MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Months after finishing seventh at the NCAA Championships in the 165-pound division, Peyton Hall had a decision to make. The 2020 Oak Glen High School graduate just finished his fourth year wrestling at West Virginia University. With the free year of eligibility afforded to student-athletes who competed in the 2020-2021 COVID year, Hall had the opportunity to return to WVU for a fifth season.
Hall’s decision was a simple one.
“I never really put any consideration into leaving,” Hall said. “I am close to home. My family is around here. I love the coaching staff. It was a very easy decision. The way the season is playing out, I definitely feel like I made the right decision.”
Hall has not endured defeat in his fifth season with the Mountaineers. Entering Sunday’s dual match at No. 23 Missouri, Hall owns a 22-0 record with most of his wins coming by way of major decision, tech fall or pin. He has held steady at No. 3 in the national rankings in recent weeks.
Hall is a lock to become a five-time qualifier for the NCAA Championships. He finished in seventh place in 2024.
“My goal is to win a national championship this year. I am just taking it one match at a time and trying not to look too far ahead. We’ve still got a couple more dual meets and the Big 12 Tournament. I would like to win the Big 12 Tournament as well and stay healthy. The guys that win in March are the ones that stay healthy all year and can put together a good tournament. My goal is to stay healthy and win that tournament.”
On November 16 at the NWCA All-Star Classic, Hall had the opportunity to avenge a loss to Stanford’s Hunter Garvin from the 2024 NCAA Tournament. Trailing 5-4 in the third period, Hall collected a victory with a pin. It was the first of two wins for Hall this year over Garvin.
“He is a Greco World Team member and he is really good upper-body. So I knew going into that match at the classic some things I had to watch out for that he got me earlier.
“Wrestling a guy the second time is all about adjustments and making the necessary adjustments. While you are in the match, making the in-match adjustments that come as the match goes.”
A month later, WVU hosted a Big 12 dual match against California Baptist at Hall’s alma mater, Oak Glen High School. Hall won four state championships for the Golden Bears and he was named the Most Outstanding Wrestler at the WVSSAC state tournament twice.
“A lot of people that maybe don’t get the opportunity to come down to Morgantown got to come. My grandma, who actually had a stroke my senior year of high school and is in a wheelchair and can’t really come down to the Coliseum, it is a little bit of a task to get her there. So she got to come out to the high school and sit right by the mat. So that was cool and a little bit of a special moment.”
With 122 career wins, Hall trails only three-time NCAA champion Greg Jones (128-4) on WVU’s career wins list. He could pass Jones as early as the Big 12 Championships in early-March.
“Chasing down something that Greg Jones has done, he’s an amazing wrestler, we see his picture everywhere and I have talked to him a couple times. That’s definitely cool.
“The one thing though is, even if I do beat it, it took me five years. And he did it in four. So I don’t know. It is not as cool.”
After nearly a decade competing at the high school and college levels, Hall says the demands are constant to maintain weight and remain in peak condition.
“It is the same challenges everybody goes through. I don’t want to go to bed at nine o’clock tonight. I want to stay up and play video games. I want to eat junk food. So it is constantly making those decisions to do the right thing. The more right things you do throughout the day, the closer you get to your goals.
“I would say it has become pretty second nature to me now. I have been living this way for so long. But definitely, I like to have some ice cream every once in a while. I do the same things as everyone else.”
As a team, the Mountaineers own an 8-4 dual meet record and they have spent most of the season in the national rankings.
Hall may continue to wrestle beyond the end of his collegiate career but his relationship with the sport will continue beyond the end of this season.
“Wrestling will be, in some way, it will be a part of my life forever, whether that would be through wrestling camps, going to coach practices, I always want to be around it. I am not sure exactly what I want to do yet. Maybe I will compete a little more, we’ll see. Right now, I am just focused on the end of the season and make decisions later.”