NCAA 2023 Wrestling Tournament: Shane Griffith has meant so much to the sport

The fans at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma for Saturday's medal round of the NCAA Division 1 Wrestling Tournament wanted to thank Stanford's Shane Griffith and tell him how much he has meant to them and the sport the last three years.

They gave him a stannding ovation as he left the mat after his 4-1 win over Wisconsin's Dean Hamiti in the 165-pound fifth-place bout - an appreciation of the large role he played in saving the Stanford program by winning the 165-pound national championship in 2021.

The Stanford program was going to be dissolved after the 2021 season. The school's administration had made that announcement in the summer of 2020. Pleas and monetary donations to save the program had fallen mostly on deaf ears until Griffith won his title in St. Louis.

The momentum from Griffith's title became an unstoppable locomotive.

"He was the catalyst for the movement to keep Stanford wrestling,'' said long-time wrestling analyst Tim Johnson on Saturday on the ESPN U broadcast. '"Thankfully, the wrestling world rallied, and here he is in a Stanford uniform."

"There's a lot of guys who have won national championships, but very few who have saved a wrestling program,'' ESPN reporter Quint Kessenich said to Griffith.

Griffth was wiping tears from his eyes when he was asked about the ovation and his legacy by Kessenich.

"I did what I was taught to do since I was a little kid,'' Griffith said. "Just being able to take care of business and do what I had to do meant the world to me and my family. It's awesome just to think you can kind of touch and move people and do something bigger than yourself.''

The Stanford program, which has a great tradition, is alive and well with its second life. Its head coach is the legendary Rob Koll, who completed his second season at Stanford after a highly successful 28-season career at Cornell.

Griffth was the runner-up at 165 last season after a 6-5 defeat to Missouri's Keegan O'Toole. He got to the quarterfinal this season before he was defeated 2-1 on the riding time point by 2021 157-pound champion David Carr of Iowa State.

Griffith, a three-time NJSIAA champion at Bergen Catholic, is just the third three-time All-American in Stanford's history.

Quincy Monday concludes special career

Quincy Monday will forever be remembered as one of the all-time greats in the history of the Princeton University program after he concluded his career with a third-place finish in the loaded 165-pound weight class.

He is Princeton's just third three-time All-American. He was second at 157 last season and a National Wrestling Coaches All-American in 2020, when the NCAA Tournament was canceled because of the pandemic.

The other three-time All-Americans are four-timers Pat Glory and Matt Kolodzik.

Monday is one of four wrestlers in Princeton's history to be a two-time top three finisher. The others are Glory, who was second last season, Bradley Glass (first at heavyweight in 1951 and third at 191 in 1953) and John Orr (second at 142 in 1984 and '85).

As he left the mat, Monday exchanged hugs with all the members of the Princeton coaching staff, including head coach Chris Ayres. He slapped hands with children sitting in the first row and looked up at his father and mother who were wiping away tears.

Monday's father, Kenny, is one of the legendary figures in wrestling. He was a national champion at 150 pounds for Oklahoma State at the Meadowlands in 1984 and an Olympic gold medal at 74 kilograms in Seoul, South Korea in 1988. Kenny Monday is now the head coach at Morgan State University, which reinstituted its program this season.

"He's taught me so many life lessons in the sport of wrestling - discipline, courage and to believe in myself,'' Monday said about his father in an interview with ESPN U as he was leaving the mat after his 3-2 win over Michigan's Cam Amine in the third-place bout. "I really believe I can do pretty much anything if I put my mind to it.''

"They've (his parents) provided so much support to me over the years. I wouldn't be where I am today without them.''

Monday may join his father's coaching staff at Morgan State sometime in the near future.

"There's a good chance. I'm not exactly sure what I'm doing yet. I would love to help him build that up. I'm still at Princeton. I would love to see that program develop a little more. I've got to figure out what I want to do.''

Monday was defeated 6-5 by Carr on the riding time point in the semifinal. Saturday, he defeated Wisconsin's Dean Hamiti for the second time this season before the bout with Amine.

"I wanted a national title, nothing less,'' Monday said. "But, it takes heart to come back and finish third. That's how I wanted to end my career - on top.''

Shayne Van Ness and Chris Foca both finish third

It was an outstanding tournament for both Penn State redshirt freshman Shayne Van Ness and Cornell junior Chris Foca.

Van Ness came from the No. 12 seed to finish third at 149. Foca finished third at 174.

It was a wild tournament for Van Ness, a former Blair Academy star and Somerville native. He rallied from large deficits to win two of his first three bouts.

He then had Cornell University's three-time champion Yianni Diakomihalis on the ropes in the semifinal before Diakomihalis rallied for an 8-3 win. Diakomihalis will be trying to become the fifth four-time champion tonight against Ohio State's Sammy Sasso.

Van Ness defeated Arizona State's Kyle Parco 7-2 in the third-place bout. He defeated Virginia Tech's Caleb Henson 5-3 in the wrestleback semifinal.

Foca, the 2019 NJSIAA 182-pound champion at Bergen Catholic, defeated Virginia Tech's Mekhi Lewis on riding time in the first tiebreaker period in the third-place bout. Foca advanced to the third-place bout with a 7-2 win over Iowa's Nelson Brands in the wrestleback semifinal.

He had advanced to the semifinal before he was defeated by Penn State's two-time champion Carter Starocci.

Lewis, a two-time NJSIAA champion at Bound Brook, added a fourth-place medal to the 165-pound title he won in 2019 and the runner-up finish to Starocci last season.

He was defeated in sudden victory by Nebraska's Mikey Labriola in the semifinal before he defeated Oklahoma State's Dustin Plott in the wrestleback semifinal.

Rider's Ethan Laird finished sixth at 197 pounds. He is the Broncs' second medalist in three seasons and was their second semifinalist in that time span. He was defeated by Pitt's Nino Bonaccorsi in the semifinal.

A great tournament for Eddie Ventresca

Seeds are just a number. They are not the be all, end all.

Virginia Tech redshirt freshman 125-pounder Eddie Ventresca proved that with a seventh-place finish after he was seeded 27th.

Ventresca, the 2019 120-pound state champion at Pope John, advanced to the quarterfinal with wins over the No. 6 and 11 seeds. He was close to the semifinal before he was defeated 3-1 in sudden victory by No. 3 seed and fifth-place finisher Liam Cronin of Nebraska in the quarterfinal.

He clinched All-American honors with a win over Wisconsin's two-time All-American Eric Barnett Friday night.

In the seventh-place bout, Ventresca rallied for a 7-6 win over West Virginia's Killian Cardinale, who also showed seeds are just a number. He was the No. 28 seed.

Cornell junior Jacob Cardenas, a two-time NJSIAA champion at Bergen Catholic, came in eighth. He was defeated 4-2 by Penn State's 2022 champion Max Dean in the seventh-place bout.

Cardenas won three wrestleback bouts Friday to clinch his medal after he was defeated in the pre-quarterfinal by finalist Tanner Sloan of South Dakota State.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: NCAA 2023 Wrestling Tournament: Shane Griffith gets standing ovation