#TeamUSATuesday: Greco-Roman National Team member Peyton Walsh

Peyton Walsh is currently the No. 3 at 77 kg/169 lbs. on the U.S. Senior Greco-Roman National Team.

Walsh was a three-time NCAA qualifier while competing at the Naval Academy, compiling a record of 108-47. The Glen Allen, Va., native was elected as team captain his senior year.

After graduating from the Naval Academy in 2015, Walsh chose to go into the Marine Corps, where he started wrestling Greco-Roman.

Since transitioning to Greco-Roman, Walsh was a runner-up at the 2018 U.S. Open and finished third at the 2018 World Team Trials.

Walsh took time out his busy schedule to answer some questions. Here are his top 15 answers.

What is your favorite movie?
My go to answer for this is Step Brothers. It’s classic Will Ferrell humor.

Who is your favorite music artist?
Chris Stapleton. I’m a big country music fan, and he has a lot of soul behind his country.

What is your favorite food when you’re not watching your weight?
Steamed Maryland blue crab.

What is your favorite sport to watch other than wrestling?
NHL hockey because it’s fast paced. There’s always something going on and a lot of action. I like the Capitals, so I like Alex Ovechkin.

Did you play any other sports growing up?
Not really. I dabbled in soccer and baseball but nothing intense.

Who is your favorite wrestler to watch either past or present?
I always liked watching David Taylor wrestle in college. He’s still one of my favorites because he’s always moving, creating action and trying to score.

What is your favorite place you’ve ever travelled to?
Probably Saint Petersburg, Russia. I’ve been there twice with the Marines, and it’s always been a fun trip.

What was your major in college?
I studied oceanology at the Naval Academy. I went oceanology more because the subject interested me than I ever really wanted a career in it.

If were to win the lottery what would you do with the money?
If I were to win the lottery, I would pay off all my bills, take my wife on a crazy awesome vacation somewhere in Europe, help out my parents with some of their payments, and I’d like to say I would invest the rest.

What is something on your bucket list?
I want to run a 100-mile race, like an ultramarathon.

If you could have dinner with three people, dead or alive, who would they be?
The first person would be James Stockdale, who was an admiral in the Navy. He was a famous Navy pilot who was shot down and a POW. The second person would be Peyton Manning because I’m a big Peyton Manning fan. The third person would be Dan Gable. He’s another hero.

What do you normally do to pass time on long road trips?
I listen to podcasts. I really like the Joe Rogan Podcast.

When did you get involved in wrestling?
I first tried it in middle school. Mainly just because I was a hyper kid that my parents couldn’t control. That was their way of getting all my energy out. I didn’t start wrestling year-round until high school when I started having success with it. I’d say I really started investing myself in the sport when I started high school.

When did you start wrestling Greco?
I didn’t start wrestling Greco until I joined the Marine team in the summer of 2017.

What made you want to join the Marines?
When it came time to select if I wanted stay in the Navy or go into the Marine Corps, a lot of the people I aspire to be like were Marines, so it just felt right at the time.

What would you tell someone who is considering joining the Marines?
It’s challenging but it’s a challenge to make you better. It’s not for everybody, but if you’re willing to maybe sacrifice some freedoms such as personal time, where you live and what type of job responsibility you have, and put in the work and develop yourself as a leader, as a person, and those sorts of things, those are the people we want.

What is it like training at Marine Corps Base, Camp Lejune in North Carolina?
Coming from a team at the Naval Academy where everybody had similar high school careers, a lot of the athletes we have on the Marine team were state qualifiers maybe at the best. It’s really cool to see them develop as athletes in Greco. We have a couple National Team members, like me, who didn’t start wrestling Greco until they joined the Marine team. So, it’s really cool to take a bunch of diverse people with different wrestling background from all over the country, put them in a room and learn from each other. It’s something special and something you probably won’t find anywhere else.

How did you go from just starting wrestling Greco a short while ago to making a National Team?
I’ve always prided myself on hard work. I’m definitely am not the most athletic, strongest, fastest or even the most technical guy out there, but I’ve always told myself I’m going to outwork you regardless of your abilities. A lot of the credit absolutely belongs to Coach Jason Loukides for getting me the foundation I need to win in the U.S. We’re still working on developing skills to win internationally, but he really hones in on the fundamentals and what it takes to get your hand raised.

What is your favorite thing about wrestling?
It’s a brutal sport. It’s not like you get excited about getting up at 6 a.m. and running. A lot of it goes to that brief moment when you get your hand raised. I honestly don’t even know how to explain that feeling, but it makes it all worth it.

Do you have plans once your wrestling career is over?
Not really. The sport has done a lot for me. I’d like to say I don’t know what I’d do without it, so I feel like I have to give back to it in some sort of capacity.

The Walsh File
Born: June 23, 1992
High School: Deep Run High School (Glen Allen, Va.)
College: United States Naval Academy
Residence: Jacksonville, N.C.
Club: U.S. Marines
Instagram: p8onbw25

• Three-time NCAA national tournament qualifier
• 2017 S.A. Lavrikov Tournament bronze medalist
• 2018 U.S. Open runner-up
• 2018 US World Team Trials third place