A year ago Rob Koll, the Head Coach at Cornell University, would stay up late. He knew he'd have to be awake to make a 3:00 a.m. phone call, or else his potential prized recruit wouldn't be available.  The time differential between New York and Hawaii was one of the barriers that Koll dealt with in recruiting Travis Lee.      Another was Koll's worry that a Hawaiian may not be ready to wrestle at D-1 level on the mainland.  Originally, Lee had sent Coach Koll videotape for him to watch. Koll watched a little and then let it sit for a while.  When he picked it up to watch again, he saw something special in Lee.      "You could just see his intensity when he wrestled," said Koll. "I hadn't seen other kids in the U.S. with his drive. That's when I felt like we needed him at Cornell."      Lee was constantly working out and hard to reach by phone. Koll feels that a lot of other college coaches gave up on the recruit just because he was hard to get of hold of.  Koll's persistence paid off and he landed Lee, who now starts at 125 pounds for Cornell.      "Travis wasn't a secret after his Junior year wrestling in Fargo.  He had placed 4th in both styles," Koll said, "When he won both Greco and Freestyle in Fargo after his senior year, we knew he would make a difference on our squad."      Last weekend, at the EIWA Conference Championships, Lee performed above his seed.  Going into the tournament, Lee was seeded third behind Mario Stuart of Lehigh and Mason Leonard of Pennsylvania.  Lee avenged an early season 11-9 loss to Leonard with a win in the semifinals.  In the finals, Lee upset returning All-American Stewart to capture the conference title as a true freshman.      The win over Stuart, who placed fifth last year at the NCAA's, was satisfying for the Honolulu native.  Earlier in the season, according to Koll, his 125 pounder was suffering losses because his focus in the start of the match wasn't strong.      "Travis had been running out of time when he lost matches.  He's been doing a better job of maintaining position and keeping the match closer early.  That's made a tremendous difference down the stretch,"  sai Koll.    Lee has not lost to anyone twice and, during his losses, he was never behind more than a point with 30 seconds left.  Lee has losses to highly rated wrestlers nationally including A.J. Grant of Michigan 4-2; Jason Powell of Nebraska 6-5; and Matt Ridings of Oklahoma 8-6.      Koll believes Lee will be seeded anywhere from as high as 7th to as low as 12th at the NCAA meet. Regardless of his seed , the young wrestler from St. Louis High School in Hawaii is looking forward to his chance to wrestle in Albany.  "I'm not sure the seeds will matter.  I just want to be an All-American this year," stated Lee.    "I don't think he thinks anyone can beat him," said Koll. " He's wrestling with a lot of confidence."      Travis Lee is enjoying his time wrestling for Cornell.  People in the area are always there to workout with.  Sometimes it was hard to find workout partners for Lee after the high school season was over.  "It's great to be involved in wrestling here at Cornell," said Lee.      To succeed at Nationals Lee will probably be more conservative at the start of his matches.  Being a year removed from high school wrestling in Hawaii, he's seen the difference in his move to Division I wrestling and knows that strategy is more important at this level.  In the last period , if Lee is no more than a point behind his opponent with thirty seconds left, chances are Coach Koll will be feeling pretty good about his freshman's chances to get the win.