***Photo notes: This picture is Makaylee with her coaches, Dirick Hatfield (left) and Joe Mitchell (right).
Over the past several years, there has been an increase in female wrestling in the high school ranks. That has opened doors to a number of talented athletes, including Makaylee Cannon. She has reached a few milestones in her career so far and those are moments she will not ever forget.
“The highlight of my career has definitely been after I won junior high state,” she said. “I won that and then not even two weeks later won OKWA state. Then I went on to get fourth in regionals, making me the first-ever girl to be a state qualifier for the Piedmont wrestling program.”
Cannon is a freshman at Piedmont High School. She currently wrestles at 135 but is trying to get to 130. In order to be able to reach the places she has so far, Makaylee has had to put in a lot of time and effort.
“It has taken hard practice, running after school for miles, eating correctly, and studying wrestling,” she said. “Something that motivates me is the fact that you have to get better and work hard or you will get left behind.”
Makaylee has had a number of role models in her life, but she says that the biggest influences on her are those that she wrestles with.
“My biggest role models are my competitors,” she stated. “Seeing them work out you want to get better. You always want to be number one.”
As a student at Piedmont, Cannon has a couple of teachers that have been influential in her life and helped shape her into the person she is today.
“I have two favorite teachers,” Makaylee said. “They are Lisa Moss and Joe Mitchell. Lisa Moss has always been there for me every day. When I walk into her class she always asks me how wrestling is going. And Joe Mitchell is more like a coach, but he is always there too. He has pushed me to my limits and is always in my corner.”
