Youth Wrestling: Four Sandites win gold at U.S. Junior Open Championship

Four members of the Sand Springs Team Big wrestling club won first place titles at the United State Junior Open Championship in Oklahoma City earlier this month. The Sandites placed fourteenth out of 175 teams. The Oklahoma Wrestling Academy, located in Edmond, won the tournament with ten champions.

Division 5

Kaden Glass (4-0) breezed through his competition at 200 pounds. He pinned Michael McCain (Hinton) in 34 seconds and Brody Cannon (Warner) in 58 seconds, teched Tieler Cummings (Henryetta) 15-0, and won a 5-2 decision over Kyle Hobill (Davenport) in the finals.

Owen Martin (9-1) had only two competitors at 75 pounds, but handled both for his third-straight tournament title. He defeated Caden Holman (Choctaw) 1-0 and pinned Boog Jeffries (Choctaw) in 2:27.

Blake Jones (5-2) placed fourth at 113 pounds. He defeated Darrius Dixon (Hard Knox) 4-1 and pinned Nicholas Denson (OKC) in 54 seconds before falling 10-8 to Reese Davis (Tuttle) in sudden victory overtime. In consolation he majored Aidan Rutnarak (NB Elite) 11-0, defeated Bk Seago (Threestyle) 3-0, and pinned Tyson Stevens (Blue T Xtreme) in 2:00 before falling 4-3 to Braden Anderson.

Division 4

Clayton Giddens-Buttram (11-0) won his third-straight tournament, handily pinning all five of his foes at seventy pounds. He took down Jackson Bodine (StandFast) in 2:34, Jace Province (OWA) in 0:31, Gage Walker (Jay) in 1:01, Colt Collett (Checotah) in 2:26, and Cash Holman (Choctaw) in 0:42.

Jaxon Trotter (10-4) placed third at 100 pounds. He pinned Clete Gilbert (Sulphur) in 2:13 and Andrew Williams (Hard Knox) in 2:19 before falling 5-3 to Kyle Harrall (Geary). He won consolation by pinning Jon Broehl Li (Tulsa) in 2:43 and Jessiah Baeza (Woodward) in 1:00, but fell to Ritson Meyer (Chickasha) in the second-place challenge round.

Division 3

Will Meredith (5-2) lost his opening match 4-2 to Cason Craft (Spiro) but won three-straight in consolation. He defeated Carlos Chay (Harrah) 4-0, Cooper Jackson (Tuttle) 6-5 in a tie-breaker, and teammate Jaxon Grigsby 7-1 before falling 2-0 to Lane Walters (Salina) in the finals for fourth place.

Grigsby (8-2) teched Chay 15-0 and pinned Dylan Ota (Team Punisher) in 2:41 before falling 7-2 to Talon Verbeck (Ark City). In consolation he was defeated 7-1 by Meredith, then won a 6-1 decision over Colt Fox (Maverick Elite) for fifth place.

Division 1

Asher Giddens (10-2) placed third at 46 pounds. He pinned Nate Edmonson (C4) in 57 seconds and scored a 16-0 technical fall against Ty Chavez (Woodward) before falling 6-0 to Easton Rodgers (RAW). In consolation he majored Nick Beidelschies (Paola) 11-2 and Cru Foster (Chickasha) 10-1.

Novice 4

Chase Kelley (5-7) placed second at 110 pounds. He majored Brett Reed (C4) 16-4 and won a 7-1 decision against Kareli Cadena (Maverick Elite) before falling to Luke Leonard (OWA) in the finals.

Novice 3

Lane Bailey (6-0) won his second straight tournament, taking first place at 61 pounds. He pinned Brannon McDonald (Spiro) in 2:13 and won decisions of 6-2 and 10-7 against Carver Barnett (Bristow), and Evan Notley (Tulsa), respectively.