No wrestlers in the finals (sort of) as we finished way back at 26th. We sent six wrestlers to the tournament with Shane Griffiths our top finisher at 5th. Five of Six scored some points but Shane scored more points than the others combined What was significant was that after Shane won his 5th place bout, he received a standing O from the 15,000 spectators.
"
165: No. 9 Shane Griffith outlasts No. 3 Dean Hamiti 4-1
Dean Hamiti is a scrambling machine. No takedowns, but the Badger is on the board first with an escape to start the second period. Griffith gets a takedown halfway through the third, and he has a 3-1 lead. Shane Griffith holds on, and the Cardinal is a fifth-place finisher, while Wisconsin's Dean Hamiti takes sixth for the second year in a row. The crowd rewards Shane Griffith for all of his contributions to Stanford University and the sport of wrestling. He earns a standing ovation as Jason Bryant remind the arena of Griffith's national championship in 2021 and his role in helping to save Stanford wrestling. "
5th place match:
https://www.ncaa.com/video/wrestlin...uarterfinal-2023-ncaa-wrestling-championships
During the interview, Shane was pretty choked up and the announcer pointed out the standing ovation he was getting for saving Stanford wrestling. He has a covid year so may wrestle another year, and I wonder if he's considering a grad transfer.
In my first sentence, I said not wrestlers in the finals (sort of). Real Woods at 141 transferred from Stanford to Iowa, He was a two time All America at Stanford. At Iowa, he is #1 ranked and is in the finals today. Woods transferring was not an endorsement of our current coach Koll. Koll was hired because of his success at Cornell Right now, Cornell is in 4th place and has a good chance at a podium finish with two wrestlers in the finals, both recruited under Koll.
Congrats to Shane and as the announcer said, he'll forever be remembered as the man that saved Stanford wrestling