So in light of his international reputation and national championships, why is Jeff Clark wrestling in the Ivy League?

Although he has proven himself as one of the world's best wrestlers--and at an unusually young age--'Clark says his primary interest is no longer on the mat.

In fact, he freely admits that in the past he was a better wrestler. "I was in better shape and a better wrestler a year ago," he says, "but that was when the only thing I was doing was wrestling."

"Before I got here, wrestling was the most important thing in my life, but I realized that I have to start thinking of my future. I know that wrestling will not bring me success," he explains, adding that he hopes one day to got to law school

While Clark's teammates express great respect for him, most also agreed that he was "burned out" when he got here.

"He was tired of the daily grind of wrestling--the pressure to produce and lose the weight. He'd been doing it for so long," says grappler John Zilkosky. "He didn't choose Harvard to wrestle for that he could have gone to Penn State."

"He was the guy we could always count on. He even moved up to 142 for one match and he would never complain. I guess it was that he was so sick of wrestling just for himself," Madalie says.

And already, says Clark a future economics concentrator his devotion to academics has already begun to pay off some dividends.

While the folk back home in Voorheesville, in upstate New York "thought I would just get by here, I'm doing well so far--surprisingly well, in fact," he says.

"I was really worried about doing well in my freshman year. It I can handle the academics now, I will be able to put more time into wrestling in the future.

Moreover, his teammates appear to respect Clark even more for his new found interest in academics.

"Harvard is based on academics You can't tell someone here not to work at it" says Scott beck. Harvard's 126-1b wrestler and a close friend of Clark's "He's really into his academics, but even so he's got an incredible amount of ability."

More importantly, Clark says he's a lot happier than he used to be. "I didn't want to get preoccupied with losing weight, and the best part is that the program here is very lay I really like it a lot here."

For this, he gives Lee most of the credit.

"Coach Lee is great guy. There is a lot of spirit on the team, and the program here is very flexible. And Coach Lee is the funniest guy I've ever met."