New Mexico wrestler inducted into hall of fame at 15 years old
A 15-year-old New Mexico wrestler was recently inducted into the North American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Fame. After winning multiple state and national titles and being awarded the best eighth-grade wrestler in the state last year
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RIO RANCHO, New Mexico (KOAT) — A 15-year-old New Mexico wrestler was recently inducted into the North American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Fame.
After winning multiple state and national titles and being awarded the best eighth-grade wrestler in the state last year, Miranda Stewart Hess Jr., the now Cleveland Storm student-athlete, is adding something else to her trophy case.
“At first, I really didn’t understand it a little bit,” Hess Jr. said. “It was just like, kind of like when my parents explained it to me what it kind of was, like, oh wait, no way, you know? Like, really me?”
Her name is now alongside those of legendary Olympians like Jim Thorpe. She became the youngest and the first female wrestler inductee from the U.S. to be inducted.
“I never fathomed at the age of 15 she would be getting that honor,” her mother, Miranda Stewart Hess Sr., said.
She watched her daughter trade in her singlet for a ball gown.
“I’m hard as nails, I really am,” Hess Sr. said. “It takes a lot for me to get teary-eyed, but I was when she came down that stage. I was just so overcome with emotion.”
Hess Jr.’s accomplishments didn’t come without obstacles, from overcoming stereotypes to competing with athletes years older than her. Hess just finished her freshman year of high school and said she would sometimes have to wrestle girls who were 18.
“She wrestled a senior in the state final,” Cleveland wrestling coach Macario Borrego said. “The girl she wrestled also took state in powerlifting and was someone who was really experienced.”
Hess said she has one goal in mind: to win a state title for her and another for her team. She knows it’s going to take hard work to get to the top.
“Everybody loves the view but doesn’t want to do the climb,” Hess said.
Her mother said a family motto continues to be passed down from generation to generation: “all go, no quit.”
Miranda Stewart Hess Jr. is an enrolled tribal member of the Big Pine Paiute Tribe of the Owens Valley. Along with being Paiute, Hess is also Yaqui and Apache. She is the only daughter in her family; she has four older brothers and three younger brothers.
This summer, the family has been traveling across the country competing in tournaments. Hess Jr. says she has looked into colleges, with her dream school being the University of Iowa.
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