Shane Griffith became as mainstream as a college wrestler can get last season when he became the face of the movement to save Stanford wrestling. Quickly, for those who don’t know, Stanford was set to cancel a list of sports at the end of their seasons for last year including wrestling. The movement to save this sport swept the nation, along with raising enough money to keep every sport on that list funded for years, and Stanford did not reverse its ruling. Only the summer after Shane Griffith won his national title as the 8 seed did Stanford change its mind.Â
Shane Griffith has brought success back to Stanford wrestling and is reported to be the first to win some accolades and one of few to win most of the rest. His most notable titles being a Pac-12 championship his RS freshman year and a national title his RS sophomore year.Â
His true freshman year, Shane wrestled unattached in a few tournaments and amassed a record of 25-2. In the same season he won the Princeton and Roadrunner and National Collegiate Opens, as well as a third place finish in the Southern Scuffle and a fifth place finish at the Reno Tournament of Champions.
In his attached seasons, Griffith has a record of 46-2 (his second loss coming Saturday) and has established himself as a staple in Stanford’s lineup. Perhaps that’s what makes this next part so surprising. Shane Griffith dropped a 3-2 match to Cornell’s Julian Ramirez (Fr.). It was a hard fought match with many lessons to learn. The next step for Griffith, who doesn’t see a loss very often, is to take this unranked loss and bounce back in Stanfords two December tournaments.Â
Stanford chose to forfeit at 165 in their dual against Binghamton just one day after Griffiths loss. Which leads to a bit of questions being he looked to have banged his head decently in the Cornell match.
By: Nick Jairdullo (Senior Writer for Heavyweight Nation)
