Senior Spotlight: Bailey Rankin
Cache High School Wrestler Bailey Rankin is a senior and has wrestled in 115, 120 and 125 weight classes.
“My family has wrestled. So, my dad, when he was four, he started wrestling up until he graduated high school, and my older sister wrestled in high school, and I really didn't get the feel for it until around eighth grade when my friend Zoe convinced me to join off-season wrestling,” she said. “And then I kind of like on my enrollment put wrestling for my sport.”
Rankin also shows sheep for Cache FFA Livestock, which her dad used to show cattle. She left in eighth grade but came back to the program.
“I kind of didn't want to do it again in high school,” she said. “But my sister stayed in her freshman year, so our sophomore year, I ended up showing after it was like, ‘Man, I'm missing out,’ so I was like, ‘I want to do this too now.’”
Rankin has enjoyed her time in FFA.
“It's really fun, I mean, going to shows, you meet new people, I mean, we go out of state, we go in state, all over…We went to Arizona during Christmas break, that was fun,” she said. “Some of my friends that I've met from previous shows were there, and it was just like a great experience because you know you get to meet other people who do the same things you do, and there [are] other people there that also do the same sports, and it was really fun.”
Rankin has received several honors in wrestling and FFA.
“I've medaled at a lot of tournaments, I think approximately I have around 16 medals on my wall, and then ribbons for showing,” she said. “I have, I think, 13, so I have a couple first place and like second for showing, as well as third, fourth, fifth, sixth, tenth, like the whole nine yards.”
After graduation, Rankin will miss participating in FFA and being a part of wrestling matches.
“Really…traveling with the team, meeting new people, you know, you get into this competitive state on the mat and then off the mat you're this go-lucky, really friendly person who's out so outgoing at the tournaments like making new friends, and it's such a fun thing to do, really,” she said. “Because you know all these people like you'll either see them at a show because some of them are in FFA as well, so you know if you're going you know with your family on a trip and just driving around, and you go to the city, and you see these people you're like, ‘Oh my gosh.’”
Rankin’s academic plans have changed over time.
“I for sure thought college just wasn't for me, and then recently at our FFA chapters trophy auction, you know, just watching…we have a new veterinary clinic here in Cache as well,” she said. “They don't have like the biggest staff either, they're still hiring, and like since I was little, I really wanted to be a vet, and then it just really became clearer now that I was like, ‘Well, [Oklahoma State University] has a really great veterinary program, I might as well.’”
Rankin enjoys keeping in touch with her heritage through her schoolwork and family.
“I took Comanche language because our school has that for my language. Because you have to take two years of language or computers, of course, I chose language, so I did that. We ended up doing beadwork making…like medicine pouches and earrings, necklaces, bracelets, and that's kind of helped me, you know, be more intuitive with it,” she said. “And then of course I always go out to my grandpa's now more than ever because I'm able to more often now than I used to so that is a huge plus and you know he's on the committee and stuff like that so it's just I can now start going back to powwows like how I used to when I was little.”
Rankin hopes to dance in the powwow ring.
