What began as an incredible start to 2020 for Shane Griffith has seen the former Bergen Catholic standout wrestler suffer a second gut punch in a matter of months.
The former three-time state champion was undefeated last season as a redshirt freshmen 165-pounder at Stanford, one of the country’s rising stars. He was seeded third for the NCAA Championships in Minneapolis when the tournament was abruptly canceled in March because of the coronavirus.
On Wednesday, Griffith received more devastating news when Stanford announced it was dropping 11 sports, including wrestling, at the end of the 2020-2021 academic year.
“There’s just so much not going in our favor,” said Griffith, who was one of eight finalists for the Hodge Trophy honoring the country’s most outstanding wrestler. “With the NCAAs we didn’t get a chance to prove ourselves. You’re looking for the payoff right now.”
Griffith said he was “more confused than shocked” over the announcement, considering the Cardinal was 11-4 in 2019-2020 and finished No. 24 in the final National Wrestling Coaches’ Association poll. They qualified five wrestlers for nationals, including three - Griffith among them - named All-American after the tournament was canceled.
“We were having one of the best seasons in program history,” said Griffith.
Griffith said the wrestling coaches told the team on a morning call Wednesday they were going to try to put together fund-raising to save the program. Griffith is hoping the push to save the program is successful and he can stay at Stanford.
Arizona State, a top-5 national program, was able to salvage its program in a similar fashion two years ago.
“They’re going to try to fundraise a lot and get the money up, try to reach out to alumni and the Stanford community,” said Griffith. “It happened at Arizona State. Our coaches are not giving up. I’m going to trust the coaches right now. I believe it will fall into place.”
Griffith said he hasn’t had time to think about transferring, still hoping it will work out for him and his teammates at Stanford. He’d probably be welcome at almost every school in the country after his breakout rookie year.
“Honestly, I don’t even know yet,” said Griffith on what he would do if the program isn’t saved. “I’ve got to piece it together. I’m just going to let it settle in. Right now, I’m living day to day.”
In a memo to the school community, Stanford said it was cutting 11 of its 36 varsity sports. The others were men’s and women’s fencing, field hockey, lightweight rowing, men’s rowing, co-ed and women’s sailing, squash, synchronized swimming and men’s volleyball.
The letter said the coronavirus pandemic exacerbated an already existing problem trying to maintain such a large number of Division I sports.
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Griffith wasn’t the only Jersey native on the Cardinal roster.
Former Blair standout Requier van der Merwe was a redshirt junior last season and had previously been a Pac-12 champion and national qualifier. Rumson-Fair Haven graduate Nick Addison was a redshirt freshman this past year.
Old Dominion previously dropped its Division I wrestling program since the end of the season. Morris Knolls twins Dean and Luke Drugac and Paulsboro’s Santino Morina competed at ODU.
Morina has since transferred to Drexel.
Bill Evans can be reached at bevans@njadvancemedia.com or by leaving a note in the comments below. Follow him on Twitter @BEvansSports. Like our NJ.com High School Wrestling Facebook Page.
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July 09, 2020 at 05:36AM
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3x N.J. state champ, NCAA star confused, hopeful after Stanford drops wrestling - NJ.com
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