Choctaw's queen of the mat
Peyton Hand is school's lone female wrestler, but she's a state favorite
CHOCTAW — Peyton Hand got tired of watching from the stands.
Growing up in a wrestling family, she often watched her younger brother' s matches when she was a kid.
With each match Hand attended, her interest in the sport grew a little.
It eventually developed to the point that she decided to join a little league program, and she fell in love with competing.
Now, she's one of the best high school female wrestlers in the state.
The first officially sanctioned Oklahoma high school girls wrestling state tournament will be held Thursday at State Fair Arena. Female wrestlers will officially be recognized for the first time, exactly 100 years after the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association started crowing male champions. Hand, a sophomore at Choctaw, will be one of the favorites at 112 pounds.
She had a dominant
freshman season, which ended with a first-place finish at the exhibition girls state tournament.
Hand has carried that momentum into this year, and she has a 13-0 record after winning a regional title this month.
As Hand gears up for the biggest high school tournament of her career, one particular desire is on her mind.
“I love the adrenaline rush of getting my hand raised after I got a really great pin,” she said. “I get to take in the audience around me.”
Hand is the lone female wrestler for Choctaw.
She trains with the boys, and practices aren't easy.
Hand can hold her own, but she gets thrown around quite a bit, too.
“She' s in a boys room ,” Choctaw coach Benny Coleman said. “Any time girls train in a boys room, I think it helps make them a little bit tougher – if they can make it through without getting too beat up.”
Along with Coleman, former Choctaw star wrestler Becka Leathers helps coach the team.
The 24- year- old Leathers wrestled at Oklahoma City University and is a valuable mentor for Hand. The two often get on the mat and wrestle each other.
The combination of Leathers and a veteran coach like Coleman has helped Hand become a nationally-respected wrestler.
“We both coach her,” Coleman said. “Becka's a lay coach. We'd like together( to become) a teacher-coach. She doesn't want to. She was a national champion and a bronze world medalist. Becka has quite a good resume in wrestling. It's a tough workout partner for Peyton.”
Hand obviously has stiff competition during practices.
Coleman said Hand's training sessions with the boys is one of the main reasons she's become elite.
“I know Broken Arrow has a girls program where they practice with the girls only and all that,” he said. “I think they're more prepared if they're used to wrestling with boys all the time.”