Sandite Sports Weekly Roundup: Kelsi Hilton wins Diamond State Tournament

The Sand Springs girls varsity wrestling team took 25th place at the Inola tournament over the weekend with two medalists. Kelsi Hilton took second place at 130 pounds with three pins while Kreedence Behnke placed sixth at 100.

The junior varsity boys placed 10th at Inola with two medalists. Ayreson Reiss scored two pins and a technical fall in a runner-up performance at 106. Preston Callis was runner-up at 165 with four pins.

Hilton took first place at the Diamond State Lady Invitational over winter break, pinning three opponents for her first regular season title.

Laila Mirza and Madison Chambers placed third, Gracie Young was fourth, and Addilly Shotwell and Kreedence Behnke were sixth in Springdale.

The Keystone Kids crowned seven champions and 10 runners-up at the Bedlam Battle in Stillwater.

Brackton Upton, Maddix Spencer, Bryson Pope, Kasen McAffrey, and Trey Tunnell all won their divisions while Kydon Harness won in two divisions.

Jett Galloway, Na’Kya Canady, Caemon Young, Ryker Dawes, Jayce Parks, Eric Foust, Hudson Waag, Carsten Reiss, Wes Wilson, and Samuel Moore all took second place.

Boys Basketball

The Sand Springs varsity boys (6-3) have already matched last season’s win total with a third-place performance at the East Central Classic in Ada over the weekend.

On Thursday the Sandites won 51-42 against Ardmore (4-7) behind a 13-point performance from Michael Foster and 11 points from Blake Johnson.

They slipped against host Ada (8-3) on Friday, however, in a close 46-43 battle after leading 26-18 at halftime and 34-29 to start the fourth. Kooper Kelly scored 11 to lead the Sandites.

In the placement round Kelly was once against the team leader with 11 points in a 53-45 win over 3A No. 8 Hugo (10-4). Kelly was named to the All-Tournament team.

Girls Basketball

Hailey Jackson became the second player under Josh Berry to join the 1,000 point club at Sand Springs as the Lady Sandites (8-4) placed sixth at the Putnam City Invitational.

The senior star scored 28 in a 50-46 loss to No. 17 Norman North (6-5) on Thursday and added 17 in a 49-34 win over Muskogee (2-6).

In Saturday’s placement match with 4A No. 7 Harding Prep (12-2) Jackson scored 25 and put herself over the 1,000 mark with a third-quarter free throw. The Sandites lost that game 57-47.

Sakauri Wilson scored 13 and Kiaryn Taylor added 12 in the win over Muskogee, and Wilson added 17 against Harding.

Sandite basketball will return to action with conference road games at Union on Tuesday and will host Owasso on Thursday.

Football

Several Sandite football players are receiving college offers. Jacob Blevins, Kyle Morrall, and Ryley Kester have all been recruited by Northwestern Oklahoma State University.

Former Sandite offensive line coach Jason Medrano has been hired as the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at NWOSU.

Sports Roundup: Layne Kirkendoll wins State Championship in High Jump

This story was originally written for the Sand Springs Leader.

Layne Kirkendoll came up an inch short of her 5-ft. 7-in. school-record high-jump mark Saturday afternoon in Ardmore, but she was still two inches higher than the rest of the crowd.

Five girls made it past the 5-ft. 4-in. mark, but only the Sandites’ senior leaper was able to clear the next notch up, securing her first State title and first high jump title in program history for the Sand Springs girls. 

The jump made Kirkendoll only the fifth Lady Sandite in school history to win a gold medal, and it was the 13th overall for the Lady Sandites.

Kirkendoll also placed fourth in the long jump with a mark of 18 ft. 3 in. 

Kelsi Hilton, Josie Myers, Gracie Gifford, and Jazmin Lopez placed 15th in the 4x800 relay with a time of 10:55.27.

Jestin Rawlins placed fifth in discus with a distance of 148 ft. 2 in. and Matthew Shelton placed 15th in shot put with a mark of 44 ft. 3 in.

Overall, the girls placed 15th and the boys were 22nd in their first season under head coach Gloria Avey - notable improvements over the prior season’s 19th place finish for the girls and zero points scored for the boys.

Cheyenne Walden’s 1600-meter State Meet record from 2017 was finally broken, as champion Payton Hinkle and runner-up Caden Dawson both broke her 4:57.07 mark.

Several Sandites participated in the Summit League Championship at Oral Roberts University this past week.

Aden Baughman ran the second leg of ORU’s 4x400 relay team that placed second and also placed ninth in the 800-meter run.

Joel Mackey ran the first leg of the 4x100 relay team that placed fourth and also placed 15th in the 100-meter dash and 10th in the 200.

Mitchell Mefford placed 12th in discus throw and 15th in hammer throw, Victoria Baker placed 21st in the 800-meter run, and Erika Baker placed 24th in the 5K run.

Wrestling

Charles Page High School alumnus Daton Fix won gold at the Pan American freestyle wrestling championship in Acapulco, Mexico on Monday, May 9th.

The Oklahoma State redshirt junior rolled to a 3-0 sweep of the 61 kg bracket for his second Senior continental championship. 

In the first round he scored an 11-0 technical fall against Puerto Rico’s Joseph Silva in 2:20, then he won 10-0 against Mexico’s Pedro Flores Salazar in 59 seconds. In the final round he took a 10-0 lead against Canada’s Logan Sloan before pinning him in 40 seconds.

Fix will return to the mat on June 3rd at the Final X competition in Stillwater where he will aim to retain his spot on the US World Team. 

Volleyball

CPHS senior Kasidy Holland signed to play collegiate volleyball at Friends University, an NAIA school in Wichita, Kansas, competing in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference.

The team captain and outside hitter was a Frontier Valley All-Conference honorable mention this season and helped lead the team to their second and third winningest seasons in school history over the course of her career.

Holland will join teammates Teyha Johnson and Charley Fahland, who previously signed with Friends in February.

Softball

Three Charles Page High School alumnae won titles in their respective softball divisions on Saturday, May 14th.

Sydney Pennington scored the go-ahead run in an upset of No. 1 Oklahoma Saturday afternoon at USA Hall of Fame Stadium. The redshirt senior scored on a bases-loaded walk in the top of the eighth inning to propel Oklahoma State University to its first Big 12 Tournament Championship. 

Rogers State sophomore Kimi Presnell helped lift her team to an NCAA Division II Regional Championship Saturday in Claremore. 

The Hillcats had to battle back from the losers bracket after a Friday loss to Minnesota State, but won their first rematch 8-2 in a 15-inning showdown. 

Presnell hit an RBI double in the final inning and Rogers went on to win 4-0 in the “if” game.

Missouri State University redshirt sophomore Jacie Taber didn’t come out of the bullpen on Saturday, but her team won a 10-4 battle with Northern Iowa in the Missouri Valley Conference Championship. 

Lady Sandites Place Fourth at First Girls Powerlifting State Meet

Courtesy of Kevin Avey.

This story was originally written for the Sand Springs Leader.

Anyone who watched Jaden “JJ” Jordan on the softball field as a sophomore can testify to the strength of the .743 slugger. Now a junior, Jordan is starring in a brand new sport. 

In her first year of competition in girls powerlifting, Jordan finished as a State runner-up and led her team to a fourth-place finish at the State meet. 

When strength and conditioning coach Kevin Avey saw her strength in the gym last winter, he knew she was special. In fact, her numbers on squat, bench, and deadlift were higher than last season’s state champion in girls powerlifting. 

“I looked it up and last year, she would have won State,” said Avey. “So I said, you know what, next year we’re going to do this. And then it just kind of expanded.”

Mikah Hampton and Melanie Skelly joined up and the Sandites competed at their first OGPCA meet in Nowata this January. 

“I realized that with three girls we weren’t going to do very well as a team,” said Avey. “So I started recruiting even more and I got four more right at the end of January.”

As the strength coach for all of the district’s athletic programs, Avey already knew which girls would be the most competitive in their weight classes, and who would be most interested.

He recruited Ashley Blake and Madison Thompson from cheer, Kasidy Holland from volleyball, and Carson Sargent from soccer in time for the Catoosa Invitational. There, the Sandites took seventh place with Jordan winning all three events.

The team improved to fourth place at the Dickson Invitational with Jordan and Holland finishing as runners-up. 

Then, at the North Regional, the team finished second with Jordan winning deadlift and squat, and placing second in bench. 

Jordan, Hampton, and Thompson all qualified for the 6th annual State meet on Monday, March 7th, at Dickson High School in Ardmore.

Jordan was second overall at heavyweight, placing fourth in squat, third in bench, and second in deadlift at 405 pounds.

Hampton placed sixth overall at 108, third in squat, and was first in bench with 120 pounds. 

Thompson was just ten pounds shy of placing in the top-ten at 198 pounds.

The Sandites are also poised to see increased participation next year. Avey coaches more than 60 girls in the high school strength program and has a growing junior high program as well. Several underclassmen have already expressed interest in joining the powerlifting team next year.

“After Jaden, there were two other girls that had quit their sports and were still wanting to do something. And I’ve got seven already that have asked about it for next year, and I know one of them doesn’t do any sports.”

“So my idea is just for more athletes to just come and do something as opposed to nothing. Yeah Carson Sargent and Kasidy, they can do another sport - we all welcome them in. But my real main focus is let’s get more people involved and get them lifting and exercising. It opens up so many avenues while they’re in high school but especially when they graduate.”

The program is also a great opportunity for athletes who want to compete but aren’t seeing a whole lot of minutes in their primary sports. 

“In whatever sport it is, there’s only nine, five, eleven players on the field at a time,” said Avey. “In powerlifting, you can take as many as want to go.”

For now, there’s no immediate plans to start a boys team, though a few guys have expressed interest.

“It’s been a whirlwind,” said Avey. “I started with Jaden then went to two girls, then went to seven, now there’s seven more wanting to do it. I’m just trying to figure out how to make it better.”