Iowa

How a trip to Japan got Iowa wrestling’s Spencer Lee ready for the Olympics

Published

2 years ago

July 18, 2024

Press Room

How a trip to Japan got Iowa wrestling’s Spencer Lee ready for the Olympics

IOWA CITY — There’s an alternate timeline of Spencer Lee’s wrestling career that could have ultimately played out.

Following a stunning loss in the 2023 NCAA semifinal to Purdue’s Matt Ramos to stop him from becoming a four-time collegiate champion, there was a case to be made that Lee had left everything out on the mat he could. Three NCAA titles, two Dan Hodge Trophies, a Cadet World title and a pair of Junior World titles had cost him him ACLs and deteriorated his knees to a point where Lee wondered whether he had anything left in the tank.

Lee has never been one for excuses. His “excuses are for wusses” quote following winning a title with no ACLs in his knees became a tagline for the Hawkeye wrestling program. But even he wondered if it was maybe time to step away.

Following that loss in March, Lee finally committed to taking his long-desired trip to Japan as an escape from it all.

“I just needed to not think about wrestling,” Lee said during a press conference Thursday.

Lee was a longtime admirer of Japanese culture. Not only for its dominant wrestling, but Japanese culture in its entirety. In Japan, he stayed in Tokyo while visiting Kyoto, Osaka and other major towns along the way.

“I really enjoyed the peacefulness,” Lee said. “Just to walk around and have a lot of time to think.”

More: Wrestling mailbag: Is Iowa wrestling falling behind in recruiting? Who to watch at Fargo

While he was wanting to avoid wrestling, he still made sure to meet up with an old friend in Takuto Otoguro, an Olympic gold medalist in 2021. The two met and became friends in the 2014 World Championships and stayed in touch throughout their careers.

When Lee spoke with Otoguro, Otoguro mentioned how hard it was prepare for another Olympics. Now that he had reached the pinnacle, what comes next was a big question. When Otoguro began training again after some time away, he told Lee he still loved it when they were in Japan, so he would try once again.

When Lee returned from his wrestling hiatus, he felt refueled, which is exactly what Iowa coach Tom Brands was hoping for. When Lee floated the idea to him, Brands and the staff “spurred” him to take some time to make the heart grow fonder.

“You’re fanning the flames,” Brands said. “Making him burn hot inside.”

Lee would then go on to perhaps look the best he has in some time, rolling through Senior Nationals to qualify for the Olympic Trials in December 2023, defeating the United States’ best at the Trials and then qualifying the 57-kilogram weight class for the US in Istanbul and going undefeated in that run.

Across the sea, Lee’s friend Otoguro failed to qualify for the Olympics himself, but told Lee he would be seeing him soon, making Lee realize the bigger picture of why it made sense to continue on.

“He messaged me and told me that he would be on the team in 2028,” Lee said. “For me it was like, ‘I get it.’ Just because you reached that pinnacle, it doesn’t mean you’re done with your potential.”

Spencer Lee on Olympics: ‘It would be wrong to say that I’m not representing Iowa’

Wrestler Spencer Lee meets with media ahead of his upcoming appearance in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

More: Iowa wrestling leads nation in attendance for 17th straight season, Penn State ranks second

Today’s version of Lee is a revival of what Lee was prior to all those knee injuries, before the stunning loss in his senior season. His time away in a country he longed to visit one day helped him realize there was still another level he was capable of reaching if he could find a way.

Now, Lee heads to his mother’s home country of Paris. He’s been practicing his French with the France wrestling delegation in Colorado to impress his mother and family who all were born and raised in France, all while working on his stellar par terre offense that helped him roll through the qualifying process. In total across Senior Nationals, the Olympic Trials and the Last Chance qualifier, Lee wrestled in 11 matches, outscored his opponents 107-25 with five technical falls and a pin in that time.

Ultimately, Brands’ prodding of Lee to take some time away paid off big time for all parties, but they are turning toward the next step of this process to try to win gold. A former gold medalist himself in 1996, he’s not trying to push Lee to emulate what he did, but rather to exceed what he accomplished in Atlanta 28 years ago.

Lee will be looking to Drake Ayala, Pat Lugo and Brandon Sorensen to help as training partners. At this point, current and former Hawkeyes training with the Olympians has become a tradition, like Lee did as a teenager with Daniel Dennis furing his Olympics run in 2016.

For Ayala, it’s a massive opportunity to build upon his successful sophomore campaign when he reached the NCAA finals. Having dealt with injuries of his own the past two seasons, he’s getting a shining example of what it will take to reach his pinnacle.

“He left a little undone as well,” Brands said. “This is part of that for him but there’s also an unselfish part of that as well. He’s the right guy along with Lugo and Sorensen to go with Spencer because of their relationship.”

Now the “zero hour” is upon Lee and the Hawkeye Wrestling Club, a term Brands borrowed from Dan Gable as they prepare to try to get Iowa’s sixth gold medal from the Olympics. Brands says he has no need or desire to place pressure on Lee ahead of the Olympics, but Lee’s urgency to get out and reach the pinnacle is at an all-time high in his career.

“You’re talking about a guy who’s a super high-octane competitor, you’re talking about a guy who gets up for the best events that are in front of him and here we are,” Brands said. “It’s time to perform.”

Eli McKown covers high school sports and wrestling for the Des Moines Register. Contact him at Emckown@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @EMcKown23

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Iowa

Iowa women’s wrestling star Kylie Welker on competing for official NCAA championship

Published

5 hours ago

March 5, 2026

Press Room

Iowa women’s wrestling star Kylie Welker on competing for official NCAA championship

Wrestling-Women

March 5, 2026

Iowa women’s wrestling star Kylie Welker on competing for official NCAA championship

March 5, 2026

Kylie Welker chats with NCAA Digital’s Sophie Starkey about the success of Iowa women’s wrestling and the possibility of winning the inaugural NCAA sanctioned championship.

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Iowa

Iowa House OKs ‘3 strikes’ bill with 20-year prison terms. What to know

Published

17 hours ago

March 5, 2026

Press Room

Iowa House OKs ‘3 strikes’ bill with 20-year prison terms. What to know

Iowans who commit multiple serious crimes would face a mandatory 20-year prison sentence under a “three strikes” bill passed by House lawmakers.
Republicans said the bill would keep Iowans safe and “prioritize victims and public safety over criminals.”
A nonpartisan state agency says the bill would disproportionately impact Black Iowans and could require the state to spend millions to build a new prison.

Repeat offenders convicted of multiple serious crimes would receive a mandatory 20-year prison sentence under a bill passed by House lawmakers.

House lawmakers debated for more than an hour about high costs, lack of prison space and the bill’s impact on Black Iowans before voting 68-23 to pass House File 2542, sending it to the Iowa Senate.

Seven Democrats, including Minority Leader Brian Meyer, D-Des Moines, joined Republicans in voting in favor of the bill.

“It will put public safety first,” said the bill’s floor manager, Rep. Steven Holt, R-Denison. “It will ensure that the debt to victims and society is paid. It will prioritize victims and public safety over criminals. It will establish real and effective deterrence that is nonexistent in our current system. It will reduce chaos and violence in our society.”

Here’s what to know about the bill.

What would the House Republican three strikes bill do?

Iowans who accumulate three strikes would face a mandatory 20-year prison sentence, with no parole, under the bill.

That would replace Iowa’s current law that says habitual offenders must serve a minimum three-year prison sentence before they are eligible for parole.

All felonies, as well as aggravated misdemeanors involving sexual abuse, domestic abuse, assault and organized retail theft would be considered level-one offenses that are worth one full strike.

Other aggravated misdemeanors, as well as serious misdemeanors involving assault, domestic abuse and criminal mischief would be considered level-two offenses worth half a strike each.

Lawmakers amended the bill to remove theft, harassment and possession of a controlled substance from the crimes that would count toward a person’s strikes.

And the amendment specifies that the bill would only apply to convictions that occur beginning July 1, 2026.

If someone is arrested and convicted of multiple offenses, only the most serious charge would count towards the defendant’s strikes.

Convictions would not count toward someone’s total if more than 20 years passes between a prior conviction and their current conviction.

Rep. Ross Wilburn, D-Ames, tried unsuccessfully to amend the bill to say that only a violent crime would qualify as someone’s third strike, but Republicans rejected the amendment.

“The bill still scores murder, felony embezzlement and felony theft the same, even though they are very different crimes,” Wilburn said. “One point is one point and three gets you 20 years with no ability for parole or judicial discretion.”

Holt said the legislation leaves room for judicial and prosecutorial discretion.

“There are deferred sentences, there are plea bargains,” he said. “There is plenty of opportunity for grace and judicial discretion in the legislation that we are proposing.”

Bill could cost millions, require Iowa to build a new prison, agency says

A fiscal analysis of the bill by the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency said it could cost Iowa nearly $165 million more per year by 2031 based on the cost of housing inmates for longer prison stays.

FY 2027: $33 million
FY 2028: $66 million
FY 2029: $99 million
FY 2030: $132 million
FY 2031: $164.9 million

The agency said if the bill had been in effect between fiscal year 2020 and fiscal year 2025, there would have been 5,373 people who qualified for the 20-year mandatory minimum sentence.

“An increase in the prison population due to increased (length of stay) will require the DOC to build additional prison(s),” the agency states. “The size, security and other features that a future prison may require cannot be determined, but costs would be significant.”

The analysis noted that South Dakota appropriated $650 million last fall to build a 1,500-bed prison.

As of March 1, the Iowa Department of Corrections’ website describes the state’s prison system as being overcrowded by 25%, with 8,705 inmates compared to a capacity of 6,990.

The Office of the State Public Defender could see a projected cost increase of $1.6 million due to an increased number of trials resulting from the legislation.

But the agency’s estimates come with a caveat — the Department of Corrections did not respond to its requests for data.

“The LSA has not received a response to multiple requests for information from the DOC,” the note states. “Without additional information, the LSA cannot estimate the total fiscal impact of the bill.”

Holt called the fiscal note “an embarrassment to the Department of Corrections” and “an agenda masquerading as math.”

“It is clear, in my judgment, that because they did not like the legislation they went all out and extreme to create a fiscal note that cannot be taken seriously in its assumptions,” he said. “It assumes that nothing will change, that there will be no deterrent factor and that the numbers will continue as usual.”

Black Iowans would be disproportionately impacted by the law

The Legislative Services Agency analysis says the bill “may disproportionately impact Black individuals if trends remain constant.”

Of the 29,438 people convicted in fiscal year 2025 of felonies and aggravated misdemeanors that constitute a level one offense under the bill, the agency said about 70% were White, 22% were Black and 9% were other races.

Iowa’s overall population is 83% White, 4% Black and 13% other races, the agency said.

It’s not clear how the bill’s impact would change to account for the House amendment removing some crimes from counting towards the three strikes.

“Expanding three-strike laws will intensify disparities — and that’s what this statement shows — by mandating longer sentences, limiting judicial discretion,” Wilburn said. “We already have a habitual offender statute. We already have one in place. We have a 10-year low in recidivism in our correctional system.”

Rep. Angel Ramirez, D-Cedar Rapids, said California’s three strikes law, passed in the 1990s, worsened racial disparities, and “Iowa is about to repeat the same mistake.”

“I urge every member here, do not pass legislation that our own minority impact statement tells us will deepen inequality in our state,” Ramirez said.

Holt said minority communities in Iowa are impacted by crime and that the legislation “will make citizens of all colors safer.”

And he said the minority impact statement “tells only one side of the story, doesn’t it? It tells the criminal’s story. What about the victim’s story?”

“What about the mother who will continue to tuck her kids in at night and read them Bible stories because she never became the next victim of a violent career criminal?” he said. “Where is that data point in the minority impact statement?”

House lawmakers also approved separate legislation that would increase Iowa’s statewide bond schedule, Senate File 2399.

That bill passed on a vote of 74-19.

Iowans could see more information on judges’ rulings

Iowans would have access to more information about judges’ rulings ahead of the state’s judicial retention elections under a separate measure, House File 2719, which passed on a 73-19 vote.

The Iowa secretary of state’s office would be required to publish information including:

The percentage of cases in which the judge set a bond amount lower than the state’s bond schedule
The frequency that the judge releases someone on their own recognizance for a violent offense compared to a nonviolent offense
The frequency that the judge’s final sentence is lower than statutory recommendations or a prosecutor’s recommendations
The number of times the judge issues a deferred judgement, deferred sentence or suspended sentence
The number of times the judge’s rulings are reversed on appeal due to abuse of discretion or error of law
The average time it takes the judge to rule on a motion or case
The number of cases the judge has resolved compared to the number of cases on the judge’s docket

The data would have to be displayed with a five-year trend line beginning five years after the bill takes effect.

The Secretary of State’s Office would also be required to maintain a searchable database of all judicial opinions and orders for the judge’s current term and the preceding six years. The decisions would be redacted when appropriate.

And judges would have the opportunity to write a 2,000-word personal statement on their judicial philosophy or data trends present in their rulings.

Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on X at @sgrubermiller.

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Iowa

Man sentenced for killing 4 people appeals his sentence to the Iowa Supreme Court

Published

1 day ago

March 4, 2026

Press Room

Man sentenced for killing 4 people appeals his sentence to the Iowa Supreme Court

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – Luke Truesdell’s attorney has filed as of Sunday to appeal his sentence to the Iowa Supreme Court.

Truesdell was sentenced last week to three consecutive life sentences plus 50 years for the deaths of four people killed in rural Linn County.

A jury convicted Luke Truesdell, 36, in November on the first-degree murder of Brent Brown, 34; his girlfriend, Keonna Ryan, 26, of Cedar Rapids; and Amanda Parker, 33, of Vinton. They also found him guilty of second-degree murder in the death of Romondus Cooper, 44, of Cedar Rapids.

His attorneys previously argued multiple reasons for a retrial that could potentially be brought up again.

They said that one juror was overheard talking about news on the case.

They also said the prosecutors inflamed the jury, rather than focusing on the facts.

His lawyers said there is no direct evidence that Truesdell committed the murders.

Truesdell’s defense also pointed to Truesdell’s father, Larry Tuesdell, who was found covered in blood at the scene but never fully investigated. Authorities have not been able to locate Larry.

The state disagreed, citing overwhelming evidence including DNA on the murder weapon, eyewitness testimony and video of Truesdell entering the garage where the four people were found dead.

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