Sports Snoops: 8-year-old Tyro wrestler wins second state championship

Tyro Elementary has an 8-year-old second-grader that is lighting it up on the wrestling mat. His name is Keegan Bailey and his favorite finishing move is the double X takedown. He won his second state championship at the 21st Annual Elementary State Championship sponsored by USA Wrestling earlier this month. It’s a move that he has been using to take down his opponents swiftly. It must be something special because the young athlete has dominated the national wrestling stage for more than two years.

Bailey finds inspiration from family. His grandfather invited me over and pulled up numerous videos on YouTube of Keegan winning that national championship back-to-back. In his first year, he won the national championship wrestling in the 55-pound wrestling tournament.

He also won this year’s wrestling tournament wrestling in a heavier weight class division where he was 64 wrestling in the 70 pounds division at 64 pounds his last tournament. It was very impressive to watch the video with his grandfather Kenneth Bailey as Keegan made quick work of opponents that were taller and weighed more than he did. Keegan’s grandfather credited Lexington Senior High School Wrestling Coach Michael McKay for playing a significant role in Keegan’s development. Keegan is also coached by older brother Knair Bailey that his grandfather mentioned also competed in the National event when he was Keegan’s age.

In 2015 Knair won the national champion in the Spring Youth National Championship. As a freshman, Knair has been named to the Central Carolina Conference team for West Davidson High this year. Grandfather Bailey is really excited for what the future holds for his grandsons. These Bailey’s boys are looking forward to competing and making a name for themselves and YouTube has a lot of footage on just how good these guys are.