Would Payten Smith have wrestled in the Olympics, if her career hadn’t been cut short by a devastating injury?
Smith was as natural a wrestling talent as longtime Maple Ridge Secondary coach Bill McCrae had ever seen. She walked into his practice one day, on a whim.
“I heard about it on the morning announcements,” she recalled. “I had never found a sport that worked for me. I didn’t like to run. And if I swam, I sunk.”
Smith was also inspired by her father, William Smith, who was also known as “The Hangman” and “Laser Jack Smith” in his professional wrestling days. Playing the role of a heel, he wasn’t above “hitting” someone with a chair, she laughed.
But the younger Smith went into the ring for her first Grade 8 tournament as a girl with only her singlet and determination. She was just a Grade 8, but she won her age group, the Grade 9-10 age group, and then the senior class as well. She surprised herself as she beat a lot of older, more experienced athletes, creating one of the great memories from a standout career.
“That was a highlight – when McCrae and I realized wrestling was definitely my thing.”
Smith is the recipient of the 2023 Hometown Heroes award.
She took a silver medal at the provincial championships that year and in Grade 9, and then reigned as the B.C. champion in her heavyweight class for Grades 10, 11, and 12. The dominant Smith went whole seasons where nobody could score a point against her.
In her Grade 12 year, 2014, she won two gold medals at the national championships, in both the freestyle and Greco-Roman competition. In freestyle – the wrestling style used in high schools and universities – she won all four of her matches by pin, without a point being scored against her. She had also won a freestyle national championship the year prior.
Also in 2014, she was a Canada Summer Games gold medallist, and her accomplishments saw Sport BC name her the BC female high school athlete of the year.
“That was a pretty special moment,” she said.
At Simon Fraser University she was the B.C. juvenile female wrestler of the year the next year, and in 2015 was a Women’s Collegiate Wrestling Association (WCWA) bronze medallist, winning All-American status she kept throughout her collegiate career.
She also took silver at the Junior Pan American Games, which were held in Cuba.
“To be on Team Canada was a dream come true.”
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The year 2016 saw Smith win WCWA silver, and at the Canada Cup seniors division she took second place.
In 2017 she kept improving, and got WCWA gold.
But then, Smith was hounded by a devastating injury that forced her out of the sport. She was thrown in the Commonwealth Games, and landed on her head.
“I couldn’t move for a couple of minutes, and it was pretty scary,” she said.
The resulting neck injury left her with instability in her neck, and there was a danger that a whiplash-type injury could damage her spinal cord.
She had to quit.
“It was really cruddy, but it lead to me shifting focus, and looking at other opportunities,” said Smith. “I had wanted to pursue the Olympics.”
“I was pretty devastated. I remember calling my dad, crying.”
When she encounters obstacles, Smith switches focus to what she can do, rather than what she can’t.
“Suddenly, I had so much time. I didn’t know what to do with myself.”
Smith began volunteering, helping with youth wrestling. She also threw herself into her schooling, and volunteering at SFU’s Centre for Forensic Research, where she came up with CSI Fridays to get kids interested in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics).
Today, she is working for the BC Wrestling Association – which governs the sport in the province, – as the office administrator. She is also finishing her masters degree in criminology. For her masters thesis, she is interviewing people who have been wrongfully convicted and exonerated, examining their experiences after release.
Smith said she remembers seeing Hometown Heroes banners at the Maple Ridge Leisure Centre, and at her elementary school. They include Hall of Fame baseball player Larry Walker, Boston Bruins great Cam Neely, and late race car driver Greg Moore.
“I look at the names, and I’m honoured to be on that roster,” said Smith.
Smith will be honoured at the annual Hometown Heroes banquet at Maple Ridge Secondary school on Wednesday, Oct. 11.
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