Thirteen members of the Sand Springs Team Big wrestling program competed at last weekend’s U.S. Junior Open Championship and seven earned medals in the tough youth event. The Sandites crowned one National Champion and one Runner-Up, and tied for 53rd place out of 193 clubs.

Kason Waag won the Novice A division at 37 pounds. He pinned Ike Payne in 2:00, majored Kolton Drew 11-1, and decisioned Anthony Salazar 6-4 and Channing Bowman 5-4.

Adrian Flores came in runner-up at 140 pounds in Open Division 4. He pinned Kayson Smith in 2:37, Tucker Winkle in 2:18, and Beck Danielson in 4:07. His second match was a 6-0 loss to Jacob Cook, but he won out with a 12-4 major decision against Chase Graham, an 11-3 major decision against Larry Cole, and a 7-0 decision against JD Sigman.

Jayden Bussell placed fifth at seventy pounds in Open Division 2. He pinned Eli Cadena in 3:35 and defeated Bryar Hooks 4-3 before dropping a pair of close decisions. In the placement round he pinned Taven Thrash in only 25 seconds.

Jaxon Grigsby placed fifth at 61 pounds in Open Division 3. He pinned Kamdon Von Holten in 1:57, Zechariah Tecumseh in 1:24 and Sam White in 0:34. He lost a 6-4 decision to Jace Reed and a 3-2 tie-breaker to Revin Flipps, but topped Randen Wright 1-0 in placement.

Zander Grigsby placed fifth at 73 pounds in Open Division 4. He lost decisions of 3-0 to Cori Brown and 4-0 to Dylan Bratt, but defeated Brynton Handshy 12-3, Toby Shipman 5-1, and pinned Max McDaniel in 2:33.

Aiden Rhine placed fifth in Novice B at ninety pounds with a 6-2 decision over Aiden Young and a pin of Ace Coker in 0:17.

Ethan White placed sixth at 140 pounds in Open Division 5. He majored Tyler Gibson 9-1 and Tanner Jones 11-1, and pinned Benjamin Mower in 0:51 before dropping his final three matches.

Jaxon Trotter failed to place in Open Division 4, but won his first two matches 14-4 against Matthew Snyder and 5-0 against Mason Armstrong before dropping a pair of close decisions.

Nah Denison came up short of placing in Novice A, but pinned Mason Clemons in 0:47 and Tj Keenom in 1:52.

Tyler Feigenbaum competed in Novice C and recorded a 16-0 technical fall against Austin Steffler before being eliminated.

Five Team Big wrestler’s skipped the USJOC and competed at the Catoosa Tournament, bringing home five medals with one champion and two runners-up.

Cameron White placed first at 113 pounds in Division 5. He pinned Andrew Lollis in 3:00 and majored Zander Payne 20-6.

Ethan Williams came in runner-up at 49 pounds in Beginner 1, pinning Max Bozone in 2:42 and defeating Brayden Otero 8-6 in sudden victory overtime. He lost to Catoosa’s Reid Alexander in the finals.

Cooper Nicholas placed second at 105 pounds in Beginner 2. He pinned Tad Dillard in 0:37 and Grant Riley in 1:53, but fell 4-2 to Kage Gorczynski. He also placed fourth in Beginner 3, pinning Titus Mitchell in 1:51.

Jordan Satoe failed to place in Beginner 2, but did pick up an impressive 41-second pin against Ben Brady.