Griff Morgan is a member of USAT’s Project Podium. He is from New Jersey, where he grew up as a competitive swimmer, but has since moved to Arizona after starting triathlon just 1.5 years ago.
Griff is originally from Westfield, New Jersey where he grew up in a family of five and played a range of sports but was primarily involved in swimming and soccer. Swimming inevitably became a large part of his childhood as he followed in the footsteps of two older siblings who swam competitively in high school and college.
After some academic and sporting success in high school Griff continued on to The College of New Jersey where he swam and studied Mechanical Engineering. He was a 2 year captain of the swim team, All-American Honoree, and achieved the highest GPA of all engineers and student-athletes in his graduating class.
When the Covid pandemic hit during the beginning of 2020, and most pools were closed, Griff had the opportunity to find running as a great outlet for exercise. It was also during this time that he found out about USA Triathlon’s Collegiate Recruitment Program (CRP) which provides NCAA single sport athletes the resources to make a meaningful transition into short course triathlon. Growing up his dad had competed in triathlons and Griff had done one or two local triathlons when much younger, but in this introduction to short course triathlon through the CRP he was hooked immediately. With his senior year of swimming (2020/2021 season) still heavily impacted by COVID restrictions, he was able to fit in cycling and running when he could in addition to swimming and studying.
During this time Griff was also introduced to Parker Spencer who coaches Project Podium, USA Triathlon’s Olympic development team. He was presented the opportunity to trial this group after graduation. Despite already planning on attending graduate school at Cal Berkeley in the fall of 2022, his initial time with the Project Podium squad really left a mark and opened his eyes to the opportunity that triathlon presented.
Griff eventually made the tough (but extremely exciting) decision to go all in on triathlon and train with the Project Podium team. The 2022 season was his first full race season which presented a whole lot of challenges in addition to improving in swim, bike and run. After a year of learning he is excited to prove himself in the 2023 race season.
Griff said: “Team Psycho’s EDP certainly gives athletes like myself the ability to continue these athletic journeys which sometimes take time to come to fruition. With the Olympics being the ultimate goal, it is important to be patient while continually being extremely ambitious! I cannot thank you guys enough for the opportunity that your support has provided and I look forward to growing closer to the strong community that Team Psycho has cultivated!”
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