SHANE GRIFFITH was a wiry kid when he took the mat for the 132-pound final at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City for the 2015 New Jersey state wrestling championships.
He wasn't nearly as mature physically as the two-time defending champion senior he faced. But Griffith won anyway, and that title, unexpected perhaps by anyone outside the Bergen Catholic High inner circle, has much to do with Griffith today.
With a 26-0 record, the Stanford redshirt freshman is off to the best career start in program history and has the second-longest winning streak ever by a Stanford wrestler.
For some perspective, there are 14 undefeated wrestlers in Intermat's top-20 Division I rankings. Six are seniors, three are juniors, four are sophomores, and only one is a freshman – Griffith. Teammate Real Woods (141 pounds) and Griffith (165), each at No. 3, are ranked higher than anyone else in the Pac-12.
Griffith is one of only two undefeated wrestlers in the Pac-12 and no doubt he will be a target. As the competition level steps up, Griffith said he will be ready.
"An NCAA title's my main goal, and hopefully I'll win four of them," Griffith said. "You've just got to dream big and go after it."
Only one Stanford wrestler ever has won even one NCAA title: Canadian Olympian Matt Gentry at 157 pounds during his junior season of 2004.
"It's not particularly rare to have freshmen come in with high goals, to feel confident and to aspire to greatness," Stanford coach Jason Borrelli said. "That happens quite often, where someone comes in with a goal of being an NCAA champion multiple times and winning it as a freshman.
"But most of those people are oblivious to what it takes, oblivious to how hard it really is and how few people do that. It's more rare that you get this far into the season and you have a freshman who's 26-0, and lives the lifestyle, makes the choices, and is as locked in and committed every day to that pursuit as Shane is."
Shane Griffith after beating Navy's Tanner Skidgel at the Southern Scuffle. Photo by Sam Janicki.
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GRIFFITH HAS BEATEN two top-10 wrestlers, including Arizona State's James Shields, whom he expects to wrestle again on Saturday. Griffith beat Shields, 5-3, in double overtime in a Jan. 31 dual meet. At the Southern Scuffle in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Griffith edged Navy's Tanner Skidgel, 2-1. Shields is ranked No. 7 and Skidgel No. 8.
In comparison, top-ranked Vincenzo Joseph, an undefeated Penn State senior and two-time NCAA champ, beat Skidgel by technical fall, 20-5, and beat Shields, 7-4. At the Southern Scuffle last year, Joseph beat Griffith in the quarterfinals, 6-4. The redshirting Griffith went 25-2 in 2019 while competing unattached.
Griffith chooses to shrug off his undefeated status, and said, "the biggest thing for me is keep going forward." But he doesn't discount what that record signifies.
"It just shows that all the hard work and time and sacrifice I've put into this sport is paying off," he said. "Ultimately, it shows that there's no goal that's too far out of reach. You actually can do anything you want to, when you really commit yourself and put the time forward to do it."
Griffith doesn't deify anyone and that was the secret of his success back as a high school freshman. His confidence grew after he won that year, and he would win two more state titles in a wrestling-crazy state that boasts some of the strongest high school programs in the country. His own Bergen Catholic team claimed a share of the 2018 mythical national title.
Griffith, pursued by all the powerhouse programs, chose to be a centerpiece in helping build Stanford into an elite program and to ensure his own future off he mat.
"Wrestling's eventually going to come to an end," said Griffith, who is considering majoring in business or computer science. "Wrestling is something I'm doing right now, but I don't think I'm going to do it forever. I want to set myself up for life. I came here, to a great campus, to get a great education."
Griffith grew up wrestling with Nick Suriano, who was a year older, but nearly identical in weight, and witnessed the greatest high school wrestling career in New Jersey history. Suriano went undefeated all four years and won four state titles. Suriano won the 2019 NCAA championship for Rutgers at 133 pounds.
"We fed off each other," Griffith said. "He maybe helped me out a little more than I helped him. But one of the biggest things about Nick is his pursuit to be great. That's just something he always strived to be. No matter what obstacle he achieved, there was always something else to go for. He was never stagnant, never complacent with what he accomplished."
That confidence drives him today.
"No matter who's in front of me, I always expect to go out and win," Griffith said. "I'm going out to win every match."
Shane Griffith beats Ohio State's Ethan Smith. Photo by Sam Janicki.
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THE WESTWOOD, NEW JERSEY, native takes his personality from his parents. His father, Jeffrey, was a police officer in the Bronx before joining the force in New Jersey. His mother, Alison, is a fourth grade teacher.
He was christened "Sugar" Shane by an early coach, after boxer "Sugar" Shane Mosley. The nickname stuck. His mother calls him Sugar, and the nickname followed him to Stanford.
"My parents were strict in a good way almost, where you're raised to do the right thing no matter what," Shane said. "My dad had the persistence and the determination of a cop always striving to be better, always giving 100 percent, always doing the right thing. I like that mentality. It evolved me to be who I am, striving to be hungry."
Borrelli sees as Griffith's greatest strength as his "competitive drive."
"He has incredible grit when he wrestles," Borelli said. "His wrestling IQ is really high, but it isn't the No. 1 thing. It's his competitiveness, his mindset, that's different than most people I've ever coached."
Griffith prides himself on his endurance.
"The longer the match goes, the more I don't even realize I'm tired," he said. "I just get so zoned into the moment. I feel like a lot of guys fatigue, but I get more of a second wind, like an adrenaline rush. Eventually, I know, it'll all fall into place."
So far, it has. No newcomer in Stanford history has been this perfect for this long. But in Griffith's mind, his season will be judged not on where he started, but on where it will end.
Shane Griffith against Aaron Olmos of Oregon State. Photo by John P. Lozano/ISIphotos.com.