Jaxsen Bailey completes Triple Crown with three national titles

Plainville’s Jaxsen Bailey, left, completed a USA Wrestling Triple Crown Saturday by winning USA Wrestling national titles in three different style tournament. (Photo courtesy USA Wrestling)

Plainville’s Jaxsen Bailey completed a unique Triple Crown on Saturday at the USA Wrestling Kid Nationals in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Bailey won a USA Wrestling Triple Crown for wrestlers who win national titles in folkstyle, freestyle and Greco-Roman tournaments in the same season.

Bailey captured the national title in the U14 tournament at 106 pounds in Greco Roman and freestyle this weekend at the U.S. Kids Nationals tournament. He won a national title in folkstyle in January in Indiana.

In 2023, only just six wrestlers at the Kids National level earned the Triple Crown.

Bailey was one of several Connecticut wrestlers to win medals and earn All-American status as the Kids Nationals, which hosts competition in four divisions (8U, 10U, 12U and 14U).

Plainville’s Logan Bailey, Trumbull’s Hubert Szymko, Madison’s Emory White, New Canaan’s Gabriel Batres and Emmett Hollister of the Gaylordsville section of New Milford also brought home medals from the Kids Nationals.

Connecticut wrestlers won medals at the USA Wrestling Kids Nationals tournament in Iowa over this weekend. (Photo courtesy Connecticut USA Wrestling)

Jaxsen Bailey, who will wrestle at Greens Farms Academy next winter, went 4-0 with one pin to win the Greco-Roman title in the 14 and under division at 106 pounds. He beat Wisconsin’s Lincoln Swick in the championship match, 10-1 by technical fall.

In the freestyle event in the 14U division at 106, Jaxsen Bailey went 4-0 with two wins by technical fall to win the national championship. Jaxsen Bailey beat Pennsylvania’s Kagan Painter in the final, 7-5, grabbing a 7-0 lead after one period. PainterL scored five points in the final 31 seconds of the match to make it closer.

Logan Bailey was second in the 14U division at 77 pounds in the Greco-Roman tournament after a 9-0 loss to Indiana’s Jon Thompson. Bailey advanced to the final with a 7-6 win over Arkansas’ Gunner Killingsworth. Logan Bailey finished seventh in the 14U freestyle tournament at 77 pounds.

In Greco-Roman, White finished third in the 8U division at 62 pounds with a 2-1 record and two wins by technical fall. In the freestyle tournament, White was second with a 2-1 record and a 10-0 loss in the final to Oklahoma’s Beau Fisher.

Szymko was fifth in the Greco-Roman tournament in the 14U division at 149 pounds. After losing his first match to Chris Barrio, Szymko won two straight before losing again to Barrio in the consolation semifinals. Szymko won a third match to take fifth.

Hollister was eighth in the Greco-Roman tournament in the 10U division at 67 pounds while Batres was eighth in the freestyle tournament in the 10U division at 59 pounds.

USA Wrestling has been giving Kids Triple Crown awards since 1997. There were six Triple Crown winners in 2023 when the event was held in Utah, two at the 14U level, one at the 12U level and three at the 10U level.