Oak Glen graduate and WVU fifth year senior Peyton Hall, who finished seventh in the nation at 165 last season, is coming home for a special match on Dec. 15 at Oak Glen High School. (WVU athletics)

NEW MANCHESTER, W.Va. –Country roads are indeed taking Oak Glen High School’s greatest wrestler home.

West Virginia University fifth-year senior Peyton Hall will grace his alma mater in a special Big 12 dual featuring the Mountaineers against California Baptist at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 15, at the Oak Glen Fieldhouse.

It’s the first match of its kind for WVU in an emerging national trend which sends All-American caliber wrestlers back to their high schools to celebrate their storied careers.

Hall, a two-time All-American, got word of the special match in the summer.

“I just came into the room one day for practice and our guy (director of wrestling operations) Kyle Bratke told me he has been in contact with (Oak Glen principal) Frank Crain and they had set it up,” Hall said. “They said they wanted to do it because it was my last year and they thought it would be nice. I think it’s cool because a lot of people from Oak Glen come down to Morgantown to watch the matches and I think it’s really cool to bring it to them for supporting me for the last five years.”

Hall said it isn’t something out of that far out of the ordinary in the modern college wrestling environment.

“It’s a kind of newer thing,” Hall said. “I haven’t seen it a lot until these last two years.”

Iowa State great David Carr, a member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and a four-time Ohio high school state champion and one-time Kentucky high school state champion, returned to Massillon Perry to start the 2023 season for a match against Cleveland State. Missouri legend Keegan O’Toole, a two-time NCAA champion and former rival of Hall’s, recently returned to his alma mater at Arrowhead High School in Heartland, Wisconsin, for a match against Northern Iowa.

There’s an excitement in the Oak Glen community brewing for the event. As of Monday, 700 of the 1,000 available tickets were sold.

“We kind of expected the majority to be sold,” Oak Glen wrestling coach Josh Cornell said. “500 were sold on the first day.”

On hand will be the Oak Glen wrestling team.

“A lot of these guys have never seen him wrestle,” Cornell said. “They know him. He’s Oak Glen’s only four-time state champion.”

The Golden Bear coach said Weir High has also bought tickets to see it and he expects others from the Ohio Valley to drop in.

“Obviously some of the kids would never see college wrestling and you’re getting 10 Division I wrestling matches,” Cornell said. “They are all state champions. They are the best of the best.”

Hall’s last match in the Oak Glen gym as a Golden Bear was in winter of 2020 just before COVID hit. He said he couldn’t remember it off hand.

“The first time I wrestled there was my wrestle-offs my freshman year of high school,” Hall said. “I have a lot of good memories there just from over the course of high school.”

The match at Oak Glen High School will be the only WVU match contested in West Virginia for the month of December. The Mountaineers head to Las Vegas on Dec. 6-7 for the Cliff Keen Invitational and then following the Oak Glen match they head to the Knockout Christmas Classic on Dec. 21 in Kissimmee, Florida.

Hall is currently 8-0 on the season and ranked fourth in the nation at 165 pounds by WrestleStat.

Hall’s California Baptist opponent at Oak Glen will be redshirt freshman Drayden Morton of Winthrop, Minnesota. WrestleStat has Morton ranked 57th in Div. I and is predicting a 13-3 major decision win by Hall.

For Hall this fifth year is just the icing the cake. He knows he’s fortunate to get another turn and he’s going to put his energies into enjoying it.

“This year the is one, maturity and two, seeing the light at the end of tunnel,” Hall said. “Now it’s a lot less like ‘Oh, I have to go to practice, I have to make weight. I have to wrestle.’ I have an opportunity to do it one more time just knowing that it is almost over. I’m just having fun with my coach and my friends. I’m not putting any pressure on myself.”

Hall, who is 108-27 in his career, is approaching some major milestones nonetheless. He’s fifth all-time in wins at WVU and needs 21 more wins to break Greg Jones (2002-05) all-time mark of 128. His 25 pins are second all-time and he needs five more to break Ryan Kehler’s mark of 29 (1999-2002).

Even though Hall’s ultimate goal is to win a Big 12 title and national championship, he’s not letting that define him.

“I control what I can control,” Hall said. “I do the right things in my training, my diet, my sleep and everything will take care of itself. I try not to focus on pressure like being ranked high or having high expectation to win a national title or be an All-American.”

Hall said he has had trouble in the past remaining consistent in his career as their have been times where he has underperformed when he felt he should not have.

With age comes wisdom, however.

“All the pressure you feel you put on yourself,” Hall said. “If I look and I’m like I’m supposed to beat this guy, I’m not going to compete to the best of my ability. So if I take it one match at a time then it’s like the outcome doesn’t matter if I take care of the little things then the big things take care of themselves.”

As for the future, Hall is currently working on his masters in sports management. He hopes to one day work in wrestling as a coach or in some other capacity.

“Whether that is coaching or maybe running a club or doing camps,” Hall said. “I’m keeping my options open.”

Notes

¯ Tickets are available for $7 cash during regular school hours through the main office of Oak Glen High School.

¯ O’Toole will wrestle at 174 this season.

¯ Hall was recently engaged to former Oak Glen softball standout Hannah Clunk. The two plan on marrying in summer of 2026.

¯ Chain Wrestling, an apparel company focused on wrestling, has a special Peyton Hall collection available that includes shirts, jackets, hoodies, hats, shorts and more featuring a logo with Hall’s initials. You can view the items at chainwrestling.co.