Daton Fix and Payton Scott win Geary Invitational; Sandites place fourth
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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief
Team Scores
173.00 Blair Academy (National No. 1)
131.50 Tuttle (National No. 11)
96.00 Broken Arrow (OK 6A No. 3)
86.00 Sand Springs (National No. 16)
77.00 Lawton MacArthur (OK 5A No. 1)
70.00 Choctaw (National No. 18)
57.00 Norman North (OK 6A No. 12)
55.00 Tulsa Union (OK 6A No. 8)
51.00 Altus (OK 5A No. 4)
41.00 Arkansas City, KS
41.00 Randall, TX
38.00 Rio Rancho, NM
37.50 Collinsville (OK 5A No. 3)
34.00 Geary (OK 3A No. 4)
23.00 Arlington Martin, TX
17.00 Midwest City
14.00 Westmoore (OK 6A No. 6)
11.00 Tascosa, TX
6.00 Duncan (OK 5A No. 7)
2.00 Del City (OK 5A No. 10)
Champions
106 TJ Long (Union)
113 Trevor Mastrogiovanni (Blair)
120 Mike Madara (Blair)
126 Chris Cannon (Blair)
132 Daton Fix (Sand Springs)
138 Tanner Litterell (Tuttle)
145 Brik Filippo (Tuttle)
152 Payton Scott (Sand Springs)
160 Jaryn Curry (Choctaw)
170 Leo Tarantino (Blair)
182 Gavin Potter (Broken Arrow)
195 Zach Marcheselli (Broken Arrow)
220 Chase Singletary (Blair)
285 Gage Johnson (Norman North)
The No. 1 ranked Charles Page High School varsity wrestling team (3-0) continued their nationally-recognized season with a fourth place finish at the oldest high school tournament in the country. The Sandites, who are ranked sixteenth in the nation by FloWrestling.com, traveled to the 72nd Annual Geary Invitational Tournament this weekend and fell by 87 points to the No. 1 team in the country, Blair Academy.
Undefeated Oklahoma State University-signed senior Daton Fix took first place for the second-straight year and junior Payton Scott won his bracket for the first time. Six total Sandites placed in the tournament that featured all-star talent from across the country. Delvin Jordan took second place, Michael Ritchey and Beau Bratcher took third, and Cody Mathis took sixth.
The Geary Tournament uses a blind draw instead of seeding the brackets, and also features a second-place challenge match for consolation winners who didn't already wrestle the runner-up.
Nationally ranked No. 11 Tuttle came in second, while Oklahoma 6A No. 3 Broken Arrow upset both Sand Springs and Choctaw for third place. Blair Academy has held the No. 1 spot in the country since knocking off Wyoming Seminary nearly a year ago. The Buccaneers won national prep titles in both 2015 and 2016.
The Sandites' performance is made even more impressive by their incomplete roster. State Runner Up Jack Karstetter (5-1, 78-16) and State-placer Zane Basma (4-1, 66-26) sat out with injuries, and the Sandites didn't wrestle anybody at the 170 or 195 weight classes.
Daton Fix (19-0 season, 137-0 career) competed at 132 and scored a trio of dominating tech falls to earn his way to the finals. He defeated both Connor Manderfield (Arlington Martin) and State-qualifier David Hunter (Duncan) 23-7 each, then teched State-qualifier Sam Avant (Norman North) 20-4. In the championship round he had his closest win of the season, 7-3 over nationally ranked No. 6 Zach Sherman, a University of North Carolina commit.
Payton Scott (18-1, 39-9) competed at 152 and won his first two matches with close decisions over tough competitors. He topped USAW Preseason National Runner-Up Dustin Plott, a freshman from Tuttle, 8-6, then defeated two-time New Mexico State Champion Ryan Rochford of Rio Rancho. In the semifinals he pinned Tascosa freshman Sam Mora in 2:51, setting himself up for a finals bout with Willy Kaiser of Blair Academy. He prevailed 3-1 in overtime for his second tournament championship this season.
Delvin Jordan (18-2, 49-14) competed at 220 and continued his pin streak with a 1:12 fall over Georgia State-qualifier Josue Arroyo (Altus). He met his match in the semifinals, however, in a 16-1 tech fall to nationally-ranked No. 1 Chase Singletary (Blair). In the consolation bracket he pinned Micah Walker (Union) in 0:45 and won a rematch with Arroyo 9-3. In his challenge match he scored a 15-8 decision over State-placer Dion Brown.
Michael Ritchey (14-7, 43-31) defeated Dylan Morris (Duncan) 5-0 in the first round of 120, but fell 6-3 to Mike Madara of Blair Academy. In the consolations he scored a 2-0 decision over Quinton Smith (MacArthur), then defeated Choctaw's Andy Schlaepfer 5-0 in the finals. He was pinned in the first period of his challenge match by two-time State Champion Rhett Golowenski (Tuttle).
Beau Bratcher (16-5, 107-28) competed at 145 and won two impressive matchups on day one. He scored a 10-0 major decision over Blake Muse (Choctaw), then pinned State-qualifier Brady Mattioda (Broken Arrow) in 4:39, setting himself up for his toughest opponent of the season. He put up an impressive effort, but eventually fell 6-1 to nationally-ranked State Champion No. 18 Brik Filippo of Tuttle. In the consolations he handily defeated Dillan Rowland (Lawton MacArthur) 7-0, then pinned Jermaine Harring (Union) in 2:38 in the finals. In his challenge match he gave up a close 6-2 decision to State Champion Nate Keim (Collinsville).
Cody Mathis (7-5, 25-19) competed at 138 and drew a tough competitor to start. He was pinned in 4:42 by nationally-ranked No. 7 Malcolm Robinson of Blair Academy, but worked his way up through the consolations. He defeated New Mexico State-placer Zak Vigil 3-1 and Cameron Traylor (Union) 8-5 before falling 5-2 to David Reyes (Arlington Martin) in the consolation semifinals. In the placement round he forfeited to Jack Hammond (Collinsville).
Riley Weir (14-6, 35-18) lost his first round match at 106, but the closeness of the loss was impressive. Blair Academy's Nick Incontrera is currently ranked ninth in the nation according to FloWrestling.com, but Weir hung close and only lost 4-1. The sophomore resoundingly won his next match with an 8-0 major decision over Luke Garcia (Arlington Martin), then scored a 16-1 tech fall over Alex Emmer (Rio Rancho), before falling 13-4 to Johnathon Ortegon (Randall).
Tanner Ward (13-6, 89-18) won his first match at 113, pinning Alec Ramirez (Tascosa) in 1:24, but gave up a 12-8 decision to Union's Caron Watson in the quarterfinals. In the consolations he defeated Will Hicks (Duncan) 7-2, but was edged out 6-5 by Daniel Vargas (Rio Rancho).
Blake Sargent (14-6, 66-20) scored a 7-0 decision over Ryder Ramsey (Tuttle) in the first round at 126, then lost a close 7-5 match to two-time State Runner-Up Connor Holman of Choctaw. In the consolations he pinned Landon Holt (Geary) in 0:40, but lost a 3-2 decision to Texas State Champion Xavier Torres (Randall).
Noah Almy (8-9) competed at 160 pounds and was eliminated after the first day. He was pinned in 4:16 by State-placer Ryce Haymaker (Collinsville) and in 2:20 by State-placer Ross Shawnee (Geary).
Hayden Cramer (1-3) competed at 182 and was eliminated after a pair of close losses to tough competition. He was defeated 4-1 by Jacob Base (Geary) and 5-3 by Brady Worthington (Blair Academy).
Gage Fain (12-6, 25-28) competed at 285 and was pinned in 0:42 by two-time State-placer Trenton Lieurance of Broken Arrow. In the consolations he scored an 8-3 decision over Baylor Walker (Tascosa), but was pinned in 1:49 by Michael Pope (Del City).
