Baker signs with Central Methodist women’s wrestling

Fulton senior Rylee Baker sits at the center of the table while surrounded by her family and wrestling coaches Friday in the Fulton High School library. Baker signed to wrestle for Central Methodist University in Fayette. (Submitted)
Fulton senior Rylee Baker sits at the center of the table while surrounded by her family and wrestling coaches Friday in the Fulton High School library. Baker signed to wrestle for Central Methodist University in Fayette. (Submitted)

It wasn’t enough for senior Rylee Baker to be one of the first as she became the best.

Fulton’s all-time wins leader and three-time state medalist signed to wrestle for NAIA Central Methodist University in a ceremony Friday in the Fulton High School library. She is the first girl wrestler to sign for college in Fulton’s brief program history.

Baker is coming off a senior campaign where she finished fifth in the 120-pound weight class at the state championships and is graduating with 156 wins, making her the girls wrestling program record holder.

Coach Tyler Payne said Fulton’s girls wrestling program started four years ago and Baker was right there at the beginning. Since then, she has been a “cornerstone” for the program and her leading by example leaves the program in great shape when she starts her next chapter.

“She really helped out the girls’ program,” Payne said. “She was definitely making some history for us -- a lot of stuff the girls are going to be looking up to.”

A prime example of Baker’s grit and dedication can be found most recently in February at the state championships, as Baker wrestled to a state medal on one healthy leg. Baker had injured her knee in practice to take her off the mat in the two weeks leading up to the state tournament.

It was a game-time decision of whether Baker would be able to go, Payne said, but she was able to get on the podium in her final season despite not having her full repertoire available. Baker lost her opening match but won four of her final five bouts, including a pinfall victory at 2:12 against Liberty’s Julia Breeden in the fifth-place match.

“She really couldn’t do everything she wanted to because of that leg, but she was still able to place,” Payne said. “That’s a big deal.”

Now heading to Central Methodist, Payne said Baker should do well given what he has seen from her work in practice with coach Clay Caswell and her track record in competition.

“She is very dedicated,” Payne said. “Wrestling is a blue-collar sport, and you’ve got to put the work in. She definitely does that day in and day out. She’s got that killer instinct. That’s what really gets her to the next level.

Central Methodist’s wrestling program is three years old. The women’s program has had one All-American and one all-conference wrestler in the Heart of America Athletic Conference — both in 2021.

“The sport has really grown, especially at the collegiate level,” Payne said. “The scholarships are out there, so it’s given a lot of these females an opportunity to go to the next level. We’ve got someone coming out of our program and hopefully that gives some life for our younger girls in the program that if they want to do it, there is a goal for them to achieve.”