Zander Grigsby Leads Sandites to Jenks Tournament Title

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Sand Springs took home its 11th tournament title from the Larry Wilkey Invitational in Jenks on Saturday, furthering its lopsided reign as the most dominant team in the tournament’s 51-year history.

“If you want to win a tournament during the regular season, this is the one,” said second-year head coach Ty Bowling.

“This is kind of like a little pregionals, Regional preview. It’s a good win for our team, especially going into districts.”

The Sandites sent three to the finals and crowned one champion with 12 top-six placers. They scored 208 points to defeat Westmoore with 194 and Melissa, Texas with 192.

Zander Grigsby pinned all four of his opponents to win the 165 pounds bracket and remain undefeated on the season.

“I’m feeling good,” said Grigsby. “Winning Mid-America definitely helped my confidence and then winning this as well, I’m feeling great.”

Grigsby outscored his opponents 17-4 without giving up a single takedown and is now 16-0 in his senior campaign. In the quarterfinals he pinned Kansas State runner-up Brady Martin and in the finals he pinned Jenks junior Joshua Henderson.

“That was big,” said Bowling. “It was one of those tricky matches where if something could go wrong, that would be the match. We had a good talk with him, me and coach TeDon (Fleischman), to make sure he kept his mind right. He did exactly what he said he was going to do. It was a good experience for him to win this tournament.”

It was the third tournament title of Grigsby’s varsity career. In addition to the Enid tournament earlier this year, he also won the Cabot tournament during his sophomore campaign.

“I feel like the energy that we bring in the practice room has really changed everything,” said Grigsby. “The way that we go about practice, the way that we lift each other up, helps everybody to work harder, which is resulting in more success.”

Mason Harris (18-2) was runner-up at heavyweight after clawing his way back through the consolation bracket. The senior pinned his first three foes before falling 6-0 to two-time Sallisaw State Champion Maverick Williamson in the semifinals.

In consolation he pinned two more opponents to clinch third, then pinned Southmoore’s Jacob Clay in the second-place challenge match for his 100th career win.

“He’s tough,” said Bowling. “He’s a returning State placer, we’ve got big expectations for him this season.”

David Ritchey (4-2) took third place at 120 pounds, losing a close 6-4 sudden victory decision to Civic Memorial’s Bradley Ruckman in the finals before forfeiting the second-place challenge match.

“In the preseason he kind of tweaked his knee,” said Bowling. “He felt like he might be ready towards the end (of last year) but we decided to go ahead and give it another two weeks, Christmas break, and make sure we’re at 100 percent.”

The junior made his return to the mat in Thursday’s duals and entered the Jenks tournament as a non-scoring wrestler, while Kase Skaggs (16-3) placed fifth as the scoring wrestler in the same weight class.

Bowling made the decision to list Skaggs as the scoring wrestler “based on just what I know from a year and a half of getting to know the team and who is showing what, whether it’s in the room or on their own time, or on the mat out here.”

The Sandites were without a 113 wrestler as they sent both Ayreson Reiss (3-2) and Caden Rodriguez (1-3) to the Inola tournament with the JV team.

“They’re both kind of younger guys,” said Bowling. “We’re just trying to get them a few more matches and a little bit of confidence.”

“It was a possibility (that Ritchey or Skaggs might cut to 113) but I think now it’s probably off the table. We’ve got three duals this week, we’ve got our home tournament this weekend, so I think both of them will get plenty of matches this week and we’ll try to figure out what we’re going to do with them.”

Freshman Kasen McAffrey (8-1) was runner-up at 138 pounds, suffering his first loss of the season in the finals. He pinned his first four opponents before falling 6-0 to Westmoore senior Gannon Morales, who he actually defeated 7-4 in the dual just two days earlier.

“We have a returning (State) qualifier at that weight who’s a senior,” said Bowling.

“We asked McAffrey to step up and fill in for him over the past month and he’s done an excellent job. He’s someone’s who’s wrestled well and he’s looking to try and keep that spot. One of those situations where we’ve got all these matches this coming week and we’ll just see how that plays out.”

Dawsen Briscoe (3-5) placed sixth at 106, Colt Hood (7-6) placed sixth at 126, Matthew Moore (14-6) placed fourth at 132, Jesse Moore (12-2) placed fourth at 144, Brody Ensten (14-6) placed fifth at 157, Jaxon Trotter (17-5) placed sixth at 175, and Peyton Callis (17-5) placed fifth at 190.

The JV team took 14th place at the Inola tournament. Reiss took third palce at 113, Hunter Spencer placed fourth at 126, and Ryley Kester placed third at 285.

The wins over Westmoore in both dual and tournament action launched the Sandites to No. 5 in the 6A rankings released Monday.

Sand Springs will look to move to 10-0 in duals for the first time since 2017 when they host a district quad on Thursday at 2:00 p.m., followed by its home tournament over the weekend.

Sandites Top Westmoore and Ponca City on Homecoming

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The Charles Page High School boys wrestling team is 7-0 for the second straight year after picking up a pair of ranked wins Thursday night on Homecoming.

The No. 7 ranked Sandites won 57-13 against No. 15 Ponca City (0-4) and 48-19 against No. 6 Westmoore (1-1) and crowned Homecoming Queen Laila Mirza between the duals.

“Ponca City’s always a good tough opponents, they’ve got good tough kids,” said head coach Ty Bowling.

“Westmoore, they’re top (six) in the state right now. Will Evans does a good job over there. So it was two good wins tonight.”

In the first dual the Sandites trailed through the first four matches against Ponca City who was stronger at the light weights.

Dawsen Briscoe (1-2) suffered a third-period fall against Garrett Short and Caden Rodriguez (1-3) fell 9-0 to Blake Parker before David Ritchey (1-0) got the home team on the board with a 7-5 decision against returning State qualifier Jimmy Swenson in his first match of the season.

Jaxon Grigsby (11-3) pinned Connor Cox in 59 seconds and Matthew Moore (9-4) won a 9-7 decision against State qualifier Cameron Kiser in sudden victory overtime to give the Sandites their first lead at 12-10.

Ethan Pappan put the Wildcats back on top one last time with an 8-3 decision against Jayden Pait (6-1) but the Sandites responded with eight consecutive wins to close out the dual.

Jesse Moore (7-0) took a 7-0 lead against Braden Perciful before pinning him in 4:20 to continue his undefeated season and Isaac Sensintaffar (7-3) pinned Axel Tucker in 1:16.

Brody Ensten (9-4) won a 9-6 decision against Anderson Bivins and Zander Grigsby (12-0) pinned Lance Arbona in 50 seconds to remain undefeated on the season.

Jaxon Trotter (13-2) took an 8-0 lead on Jaxon Goodard before pinning him in 3:14 to clinch the dual and the remaining Sandites all pinned their foes in the first period.

Peyton Callis (12-3) pinned Jose Herrera in 34 seconds, Ali McCoy (6-7) pinned Cesar Jiminez in 37 seconds, and Ryley Kester (1-0) made his varsity debut by pinning Blaze McGehee in 1:21.

Sand Springs only trailed for one match against Westmoore after returning State placer Eric Casula pinned Briscoe at 106. Rodriguez picked up his first varsity victory by pinning Eli Archer in 3:22 to tie it.

Kase Skaggs (11-1) pinned State qualifier Brayden Kelly in 1:11, Jaxon Grigsby won a 5-0 decision against Jackson Yeatman, and Matthew Moore pinned Woodley Johnson in 4:46 after opening the third period on top of a 4-4 tie to make it 21-6.

Undefeated freshman Kasen McAffrey (4-0) earned a 7-4 decision against State qualifier Gannon Morales at 138 and Jesse Moore pinned Artak Khachatryan in 2:36.

State qualifier Trae Rios pinned Sensintaffar at 150 and Sam Gibson eked out a 3-1 decision against Ensten to cut it to 30-15.

Zander Grigsby got the Sandites back on track by pinning Chris Steele in 2:11 and Trotter clinched the dual with a 5-2 decision over Cole Olguin at 175.

The teams traded wins from there. Callis added a 10-5 decision against Jordan Cox, McCoy fell 13-4 to Devin Lacroix, and Mason Harris (12-1) wrapped things up by pinning Gavin Gagnon in 1:11.

“Seven duals in and seven different lineups,” said Bowling. “That’s good depth and that tells you we’ve got good youth, a good junior high that helps push those guys up, so next man up.”

“We got to kind of showcase junior high, girls, and boys all at the same time. It’s probably the first time we’ve ever done that up here. I wish it wasn’t so late but it was good to get a couple of matches in.”

Sand Springs will get some rematches with both teams at this weekend’s Larry Wilkey Invitational in Jenks.

“That’s kind of why we put this together was everybody was going to the Jenks tournament,” said Bowling.

It will be the Sandites’ first appearance at the Jenks tournament since winning it in 2015. The Sandites have won the tournament ten times in school history.

Decade of Dominance: Sandites Continue Highway 97 Win Streak

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Sapulpa took an early lead in its Thursday night dual against Sand Springs, but a major decision from Jaxon Grigsby kicked off an eight-match win streak and the visiting Sandites picked up their eighth consecutive victory over their Highway 97 rivals.

“It’s always a good day when we can beat our rivals,” said head coach Ty Bowling.

The No. 9 Sandites (4-0) trailed 16-0 through the first four matches but rallied to a 49-20 victory in a rivalry win streak dating back to 2013 against 5A No. 14 Sapulpa (0-2).

“It’s good that we didn’t get down,” said Bowling. “We got the momentum back in our favor so that’s always good to see. It’s easy to get down and stay down but those guys behind them - they picked each other up.”

Sapulpa benefitted from a forfeit at 106 pounds, a weight class that’s been vacant all season for Sand Springs, though Bowling says they’re working on getting somebody in there soon.

Then Ayreson Reiss (3-1) suffered his first loss of the season in an 11-7 decision to Jack Madden.

The Chieftains then hit their strongest weights where returning State qualifiers Cavin Pepper and Jackson Willingham earned 12-0 and 3-2 decisions over Caden Rodriguez (0-2) and Hunter Spencer (0-2), respectively.

Finally, Jaxon Grigsby (8-3) broke the Chieftains’ run with a 10-2 major decision over Jackson Mills at 132 pounds, collecting a trio of nearfall points in the third period to earn the bonus point.

Kasen McAffrey (2-0), Preston Reyna (9-2), and Isaac Sensintaffar (6-2) collected forfeits at 138, 150, and 157, while Jesse Moore (4-0) won a 5-3 decision over Alexander Henderson at 144.

Brody Ensten (7-3) picked up the first fall of the night, pinning Nicholas Dobbs in 3:25, then Jaxon Trotter (10-2) pinned Ryan Peterson in 2:46 to clinch the dual for the Sandites.

“We knew coming in if we had the dual locked we were going to go one direction, and if we needed a couple wins we were going to go another direction in the lineup,” said Bowling. “So it was big that we were able to lock it up after 175.”

Peyton Callis (10-2) pinned Sequoyah Hall in 48 seconds before Micco Jones finally snapped the Chieftains’ losing streak with an 8-0 major decision against Ali McCoy (5-5).

Heavyweight Mason Harris (10-1) capped off the night with a pin of Isaiah McCall-Watashe in 1:16.

The Sandites are now 4-0 in duals and will be favored Tuesday when they host Jenks (1-0) in the 2023 finale. Sand Springs was also supposed to travel to a tournament in New Orleans this weekend but cancelled that trip to focus on getting healthy.

“We started with two duals then we wrestled at Mid-America which has some of the toughest teams around the country,” said Bowling.

“We had teams from Washington and Utah and Texas, and of course all of the Oklahoma teams are always tough. Wrestling ten matches over a three-day period, then turn around and Claremore and Sapulpa are always tough, so a lot of hard matches back-to-back-to-back.”

The Sandites were missing several of their top wrestlers against Sapulpa, including Zander Grigsby (9-0), Matthew Moore (7-4), Jayden Pait (6-0), and Kase Skaggs (9-1), but none of their injuries are serious.

"They’ll be back soon,” said Bowling. “It’s more precautionary, just making sure that we have them for the long term.”

Zander Grigsby Wins Mid America Nationals, Sandites Beat Claremore in Dual

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The No. 9 ranked Charles Page High School boys’ wrestling team improved to 3-0 on the season Tuesday evening with a 40-24 win over 5A No. 6 Claremore (3-2) at Clyde Boyd Middle School.

The Sandites trailed through the first six matches before Jesse Moore (3-0) pinned Alex Miller at 144 pounds to tie it up at 15-15.

Claremore jumped out to a 6-0 lead with a forfeit at 106. Ayreson Reiss (3-0) got the Sandites on the board with a 6-1 decision over Paul Perez, but the visitors won the next three matches.

Kale Shultz won 5-3 in overtime against Caden Rodriguez and returning State qualifier Mason Gillispie won 12-5 against Hunter Spencer. Both Sandites were making their varsity debuts.

Jaxon Grigsby (7-3) suffered a 6-3 decision at the hands of returning State qualifier Maddox Jackson for the Zebras’ biggest lead at 15-3.

Kasen McAffrey made his freshman debut with a pin of Mikey Robertson to kick off the rally at 138.

Preston Reyna (8-2) followed up Moore’s pin with a 14-5 major decision against Kaiden Soaz and the Sandites held the lead from then on.

Isaac Sensintaffar (5-2) pinned Jackson Roach in 1:52 to make it 25-15, but Brody Ensten (6-3) was pinned by returning State placer Cooper Zigafues to keep things close.

Finally, Jaxon Trotter (9-2) pinned Silas Taylor in 57 seconds and Peyton Callis (9-2) pinned Micah Duncan in five seconds to clinch the dual victory.

Claremore won one last match in a 3-1 decision by returning State qualifier Cameron Braswell against Ali McCoy (5-5) but Mason Harris (9-1) capped the night off with a 2-0 defeat of Josh Feliciano.

Next up on the Sandites’ schedule is a Highway 97 Rivalry match at 5A No. 14 Sapulpa (0-1) Thursday at 6:00 p.m.

Sand Springs wrestled its first tournament over the weekend and Zander Grigsby (9-0) led the Sandites to a seventh place finish at the Mid America Nationals in Enid.

Grigsby pinned his first pool opponent, then won a 9-0 major decision against returning State qualifier Walker Johnson of Harrah.

In the championship bracket he pinned his first opponent before eking out a 3-0 decision against Marlow State Champion Cade Gilbert.

In the semifinals he won an 11-0 major decision against Texas State Champion Tanner Casaubon and in the finals he won a 5-1 decision against Guthrie State qualifier Bryson Hall.

Grigsby outscored his opponents 42-2 over the tournament.

Harris was runner-up at heavyweight, pinning his first four opponents in the first period. He won a 2-0 decision over Guthrie State qualifier Nic Herendeen and a 1-0 decision against Piedmont State qualifier Jesse Knapp before falling to Kansas State Champion Brett Carroll.

Kase Skaggs (9-1) took fifth place at 120 pounds with wins over three State qualifiers. His only loss came to two-time Texas State Champion Isaak Arevalo in the quarterfinals and he bounced back with three straight decisions. In the placement round he won 4-3 against USAWKS State Champion Talon Verbeck.

Callis placed fifth at 190, only losing two matches to a pair of State qualifiers. In the placement round he won a 7-3 decision against Texas State placer Ryan Rainey from Arlington-Martin.

Trotter placed ninth at 175, pinning his first five opponents before falling 10-3 and 4-3 to a pair of State finalists. He bounced back with a 18-1 technical fall against Salina State qualifier Jyce Glass and a 35-second pin of Collinsville’s Sean Ross.

Matthew Moore (7-4) placed 10th at 132 with a 5-4 record. He won his first three matches before falling to a pair of State finalists. He won two matches in the Championship bracket, losing only to returning State qualifiers.

Jayden Pait (6-0) placed 12th at 138, winning his first four matches before medical forfeiting the rest of the tournament. He pinned his first two opponents before winning a pair of decisions against two State qualifiers.

Hudson Sheppard (5-2) placed 12th at 175, easily winning his pool before falling 7-2 to Harrah’s Zylan Johnson. He won his next match 7-3 against Texas State qualifier Boede Gibson but medical forfeited his remaining matches.

McCoy placed 15th at 215 pounds with three pins. In the placement round he pinned Jay’s Bryce McGhee in 1:40.

Jaxon Grigsby placed 17th at 126, going 5-2 with four pins, beating Marlow’s Harris Brennan 8-0 in the placement match. Both of his losses came to returning State qualifiers during pool play, relegating him to the consolation bracket where he dominated the field, outscoring his opponents 34-1.

Reyna placed 17th at 144, losing his first two matches before bouncing back with a technical fall and five consecutive wins to top the consolation bracket. Over his final five matches he outscored his opponents 38-0 with three pins, including a 26-second victory in the finals.

Sensintaffar placed 17th at 150, losing his first two matches before winning his next four, including three pins with a 36-second finals victory.

Ensten placed 17th at 157, going 1-2 in pool play before winning out in the consolation bracket with three total pins in the tournament.

Jaden Allen (4-4) placed 22nd at 190 with four pins.

The Sandites finished in seventh place with 320 points despite voiding the 106 and 113 weight classes.

As a non-scoring wrestler, Colt Hood took 13th place at 120 with a 4-3 record and four pins, winning his placement match by fall against Watonga’s Dakota Cox. Two of his three losses came to defending State Champions.