Clayton Baker finishes 2nd at state meet, becomes fourth GHS multi-medal winner

In this case, losing to the undisputed best is absolutely nothing to be ashamed of, especially when you go the distance.

Gallatin R-5 senior Clayton Baker capped his high school wrestling career with a second place finish at the 2006 MSHSAA State Wrestling Championships held in Mizzou Arena in Columbia.

Baker, who suffered a mild concussion during the 189-pound championship match, lost to Maysville’s Aaron Bridgeman by an 8-1 decision in what was a rematch of district, Grand River Conference and Trenton Tournament title bouts. Despite being at less than 100% during the match, Baker gave the Wolverine all-star his closest match of the state tournament.

Bridgeman, who finished his high school career with a 77-match winning streak, posted a 42-0 record this season and 151-8 record in four seasons.

Baker’s second place finish represented the highest finish for a GHS wrestler since Chris Belshe grabbed second at the 1993 state meet. Baker is the fourth Bulldog wrestler to win multiple state medals, after he finished 5^th in 2004 in the 171-pound class. He missed last year’s state tournament due to a shoulder injury suffered prior to conference and district tournaments.

Baker, who garnered an all-state award in football in 2005, is the first Bulldog to earn all-state accolades in two sports within the same school year since Robert Heldenbrand in 2001-02 (football, track). He also joins Adam Ness, Clint Vanatta and Bill Eaton as multiple medal winners for Gallatin in state wrestling competition. Vanatta won three state medals during his high school tenure.

Saturday’s medal round in the Class 1, 189-pound class had a definite Grand River Conference flavor, with Maysville’s Bridgeman taking first, Baker finishing second and Stanberry’s Patrick Jennings placing third. Brookfield’s Jerod Glasgow made it a clean sweep of the top four spots for District 4 wrestlers, who overall brought home 40% of the medals from the state tournament.

For Baker, the path to the awards podium began with a win by fall over Mid-Buchanan’s Kenny Cox, followed by a quarterfinal pin of Josh Wisdom on Centralia. Facing Jennings in the semifinals, Baker battled to win an 8-4 decision to advance to the championship match.

Bridgeman won a pair of matches by pin, and beat Carrollton’s Brandon Stark by a 15-2 major decision in order to reach the championship bout.

Baker’s second place finish capped a 29-6 season that saw him lose to only one wrestler other than Bridgeman. Baker compiled a 79-29 record over four seasons.

"Clayton, Marc (Maillet) and Daniel (Horvatin) will truly be missed next year," said Bulldog head wrestling coach Phillip Limb. "Clayton showed up at this tournament and showed that he was among the best in his class," he added. "All six of his losses came to multiple state champs. In any other given year, Clayton would have been a state champ."

Three other GHS wrestlers fell just short of the medal round.

Junior Riley Rains lost his opening match in the 160-pound class, but won two straight to set up a match with Matt Beyer to decide who would move on to the medal round. Coming off a 7-6 victory over Plattsburg’s Earl Baxter, Rains dropped out of the tournament after suffering a 1-0 loss to Beyer.

Rains finished the season with a 20-16 season match record.

Senior Marc Maillet, who was 9-13 as a junior, likewise fell just short of the medal round after losing his first match, then rebounding to win two straight bouts. His loss to Sherwood’s James Walker, by a 10-2 major decision, dropped him out of the tournament. Maillet’s season featured a team-high 31 wins against nine losses, seven of which came to the top six wrestlers in the state.

Sophomore Cody Selby pinned Adrian’s Justin Hough in his opening round match, but fell to Plattsburg’s Kenzie McClain in the quarterfinal round. Selby fell to Lawson’s Kyle Baney in the wrestleback round. Selby finished the season with a 24-14 mark.

"I am so proud of these guys, and I hope that the taste of state will carry to next year for Riley and Cody," Coach Limb remarked. "All of these boys were competitive for a state medal," he added. "Our competitive schedule has helped us this year, and the final results show how tough our district was."

As a team, Gallatin scored 33.5 points and finished in a tie (with Stanberry) for 19^th place. Gallatin’s varsity wrestling season ended with seven individual wrestlers winning at least 20 matches.