Wrestlers · Career complete
Stephany Lee
3x Hawaii girls' state champion at Moanalua; 2x U.S. World Team member at 72 kg; Women's College Nationals champion at Missouri Valley
Honolulu, HI · Moanalua HS · Missouri Valley College
By Joe Spisak, Pennsylvania state champion and 4x NCAA qualifier at Virginia · Published September 3, 2026
Stephany Lee started in judo at seven years old and picked up wrestling as a sophomore at Moanalua High School in Honolulu. Hawaii ran a separate girls' state series, so she wrestled girls from her first season. Her high school coach, Joel Kawachi, came from judo and recruited her off the mat. She won Hawaii state titles at 140 pounds in 2000 and 2001 and at 155 pounds in 2002. Moanalua won three straight girls' state team titles under Kawachi, from 1999 through 2001.
She went to Missouri Valley College in Marshall, Missouri, to wrestle for Carl Murphree. At the first Women's College Nationals, held on the Missouri Valley campus on March 20, 2004, she finished second to Toccara Montgomery of Cumberland College at 176 pounds. She later won a national college title of her own.
At the senior level she settled at 72 kg, about 159 pounds. She was third at the 2004 Olympic Team Trials and won the University World title that year. In 2008 she won the Pan American Championships, pinning Ohenewa Akuffo of Canada in 1:56 in the final, then won the U.S. World Team Trials and made her first World Team. She won the 2009 U.S. Nationals and swept the 2010 U.S. Open and World Team Trials before finishing eighth at the World Championships in Moscow.
She won the best-of-three final at the 2012 Olympic Team Trials in Iowa City over Ali Bernard of the Gator Wrestling Club. She then accepted a one-year suspension for a positive test at the event, her results were forfeited and Bernard was named to the Olympic team. Her three straight Hawaii state titles still stand in the HHSAA record book.
She is one of the Moanalua wrestlers on the Hawaii High School Athletic Association's list of three-time girls' state champions, from the years the Menehunes won three straight team titles.
Results
| Season | Level | Event | Weight | Place | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | High school | HHSAA Hawaii Girls State Championships | 140 lb | 1st | Moanalua won the girls' state team title in 1999, 2000 and 2001 under coach Joel Kawachi; Kahuku took it in 2002 |
| 2001 | High school | HHSAA Hawaii Girls State Championships | 140 lb | 1st | |
| 2002 | High school | HHSAA Hawaii Girls State Championships | 155 lb | 1st | Third straight state title, which put her on the HHSAA special recognition list for 2000, 2001 and 2002. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin twice writes her class year as Moanalua '02. |
| 2004 | College | Women's College Nationals, Marshall, MO | 176 lb | 2nd | March 20, 2004, the first national tournament run by the women's college programs, held on the Missouri Valley campus; she lost the final to Toccara Montgomery of Cumberland College, 5-2 |
| 2004 | Senior | U.S. Olympic Team Trials | 72 kg | 3rd | She also won the University World title and the Pan American Championships that year |
| 2004-06 | College | Women's College Nationals | 1st | Team USA records a Women's College Nationals title without a weight, so the class is left out. The year is left out too: her Team USA profile and one FloWrestling list put the title in 2006, while another FloWrestling list puts it in 2005 and has her second in 2006. | |
| 2007 | Senior | Missouri Valley Women's Showcase | 72 kg | 1st | March 2007; beat two-time World champion Kristie Marano in the final 0-1, 2-0, 1-0 and took the Senior division Outstanding Wrestler award. She was second to Marano at the U.S. World Team Trials that year. |
| 2008 | Senior | Pan American Championships | 72 kg | 1st | Beat Rosangela Conceicao of Brazil and Jaresmit Weffer of Venezuela, then pinned Ohenewa Akuffo of Canada at 1:56 in the final |
| 2008 | Senior | U.S. World Team Trials and World Championships | 72 kg | 1st at the Trials | First World Team; she did not place at the World Championships. She was also the 2008 World University champion and fourth at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials. |
| 2009 | Senior | U.S. Nationals | 72 kg | 1st | She also won the Hargobind International and the Dave Schultz Memorial International that year |
| 2010 | Senior | U.S. Open and U.S. World Team Trials | 72 kg | 1st | She also won the Sunkist Kids International Open, the Canada Cup and the Klippan Open that year |
| 2010 | Senior | World Championships, Moscow, Russia | 72 kg | 8th | Second World Championships; Team USA lists it as her top World finish |
| 2011 | Senior | World Team Trials for non-Olympic weight classes | 2nd | Team USA records the placement without a weight class; it ranked her No. 2 at 67 kg for 2011-12 | |
| 2012 | Senior | U.S. Olympic Team Trials, Iowa City | 72 kg | results forfeited | April 21, 2012; she won the best-of-three championship series over Ali Bernard, then accepted a one-year suspension for a positive test at the event. Her results were forfeited and Bernard was named the U.S. Olympic Team nominee at the weight. |
What we could not confirm
Anything not on this page, a high school record, a final score, a season, was left out because no primary source stated it when this was written. If you have a bracket, a program, or a clipping, send it and the page gets the number.
Sources
- https://www.teamusa.com/profiles/stephany-lee · Team USA profile: high school Moanalua in Honolulu under coach Joel Kawachi, college Missouri Valley under Carl Murphree; born 1984 in Honolulu; six years on Team USA; World Championships in 2008 and 2010 at 72 kg with a top finish of eighth in 2010; 2004 third at the Olympic Team Trials, University World champion, Pan American champion; 2006 Women's College Nationals champion; 2008 World University champion, Pan American gold, World Team Trials champion, fourth at the Olympic Team Trials; 2009 U.S. Nationals champion; 2010 U.S. Open and World Team Trials champion; 2011 second in the non-Olympic weights World Team Trials; black belt in judo. NOTE: the hometown field on this page reads Minneapolis, which conflicts with the Honolulu listings on themat.com, so Honolulu is used here.
- https://hhsaa.org/sports/wrestling/tournament/individual_champions · HHSAA individual champions record book: Stephany Lee of Moanalua won the Hawaii girls' state title at 140 pounds in 2000, 140 pounds in 2001 and 155 pounds in 2002
- https://hhsaa.org/sports/wrestling/tournament/special_recognition · HHSAA special recognition list of three-time state champions includes Stephany Lee, Moanalua, OIA, 2000, 2001, 2002
- https://www.themat.com/news/2008/april/12/stephany-lee-faces-tough-oppos-18489 · She competed in judo from age seven and joined the wrestling team as a sophomore after the Moanalua girls coach, who followed judo, recruited her; Hawaii runs a separate wrestling association for girls; she went from Hawaii to Missouri Valley and then to the U.S. Olympic Training Center; 2008 Pan American gold with wins over Rosangela Conceicao of Brazil and Jaresmit Weffer of Venezuela and a 1:56 pin of Ohenewa Akuffo of Canada; helped the U.S. to second at the 2008 World Cup
- https://www.themat.com/news/2007/march/30/lee-beats-marano-at-missouri-v-16498 · March 2007 Missouri Valley Women's Showcase: Lee, of Honolulu, Hawaii and Missouri Valley College, won the Senior division Outstanding Wrestler award and beat two-time World champion Kristie Marano 0-1, 2-0, 1-0 in the 72 kg final
- https://www.themat.com/news/2017/february/10/missouri-valley-wins-first-womens-college-nationals-in-2004 · The first Women's College Nationals were held at Missouri Valley College in Marshall, Mo., on March 20, 2004; Missouri Valley crowned four champions and had two runners-up, Brandy Golt at 147 pounds and Stephany Lee at 176 pounds; Lee lost the final to Toccara Montgomery of Cumberland College 5-2; Lee was a transfer coached by Carl Murphree
- https://www.themat.com/news/2010/september/10/davis--lee-and-blanc-weigh-in--22494 · Sept. 2010 World Championships in Moscow: Lee, of Colorado Springs and the Sunkist Kids, competed at 72 kg/158.5 lbs. and opened against Roxana Iancolovici of Romania in her second World Championships
- https://www.themat.com/news/2012/june/28/ali-bernard-named-as-nominee-t-25251 · June 28, 2012: Lee accepted a one-year suspension based on a positive test at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Iowa City on April 21, 2012; she forfeited her results from the event and Ali Bernard, whom Lee had beaten in the best-of-three championship series at 72 kg, became the Trials champion and the U.S. Olympic Team nominee
- https://archives.starbulletin.com/2002/02/27/sports/index5.html · Feb. 2002 Honolulu Star-Bulletin preview of the Hawaii state championships listing Stephany Lee among Moanalua's returning state champions as the Menehunes chased a fourth straight team title
- https://hhsaa.org/sports/wrestling/tournament/record_book · HHSAA record book, girls team champions: 1998 McKinley; 1999 Moanalua (Joel Kawachi, 95); 2000 Moanalua (143.5); 2001 Moanalua (134.5); 2002 Kahuku (Reggie Torres, 151); 2003 Kahuku
- https://archives.starbulletin.com/2004/01/11/sports/index13.html · Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Jan. 11, 2004, on the Menlo College Women's Open: 'Champions, all freshmen, were Stephany Lee (Moanalua '02) of Missouri Valley in heavyweight', which fixes her graduation year at 2002
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