Bailey to wrestle at Cloud County Community College
Shawn Linenberger
Tonganoxie High senior Gabe Bailey signs a National Letter of Intent on Thursday to wrestle at Cloud County Community College in Concordia. Gabe, seated second from right, is flanked by family members, as well as Cloud coach Julian Smith, top left, and THS coach Brett Delich, top right.
A Tonganoxie High wrestler is heading west to continue his career at the collegiate level.
THS senior Gabe Bailey signed Thursday at the new THS learning center to continue his wrestling career at Cloud County Community College.
Bailey, currently ranked No. 1 in Class 4A’s 182-pound division, placed third at state as a sophomore and silver this past year as a junior.
He’s 23-3 heading into today’s Frontier League Championships and will look to make another run at state in the coming weeks at regionals and state.
He’ll look to add another state title to Tonganoxie wrestling program history. THS had its first two state titles in 2019 and added two more in 2020.
Overall, Bailey is 114-40 in his prep career, including 51-6 combined his junior year and so far this season. The COVID-19 pandemic has reduced the number of matches wrestlers compete this past season and this year, but Bailey still has tallied some big victory numbers.
Bailey joins a Thunderbirds team that currently has nine Kansas wrestlers on its 18-person roster.
CCCC added men’s wrestling in 2017-18. Julian Smith became the T-Birds’ third coach this past May. A former graduate assistant at Fort Hays State and then an assistant at Labette County, Smith is finishing up his first season in Concordia, which is about 45 minutes north of Salina.
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- Tonganoxie High senior Gabe Bailey signs a National Letter of Intent on Thursday to wrestle at Cloud County Community College in Concordia. Gabe, seated second from right, is flanked by family members, as well as Cloud coach Julian Smith, top left, and THS coach Brett Delich, top right.