Laila Mirza Crowned Homecoming Queen, Lady Sandites split with Ponca City & Westmoore

For the first time in Sandite history, the wrestling Homecoming queen was an actual wrestler. Laila Mirza was crowned in between a pair of victories as the Sandites hosted Westmoore and Ponca City on Thursday.

No. 9 ranked Sand Springs (4-2) won 42-36 against No. 13 Ponca City (0-4) before falling 54-30 to No. 6 Westmoore (3-0).

“We’ve been trying to take one dual at a time and handle Ponca City first, but we knew Westmoore was going to be tough,” said head girls coach Trent Cleveland.

“They battled us tough and ended up getting the better of us. We did have a couple of girls out of the lineup tonight. That probably played a factor but it is what it is, just got to roll with the punches.”

Sand Springs never trailed against the Wildcats, though the visitors tied things up twice and held close till the end.

Bailey Copeland took an 8-2 lead on Camila Bohon before pinning her at the 5:17 mark. Caryss Upton received a forfeit at 105 to take a 12-0 lead.

Ponca City tied things up with pins from Marli Arbona against Ambrielle Chambers and Toutie Bales against Trinity Owens.

Mirza responded by pinning Oakly Hunt and Gracie Gifford pinned Kaylie Thomas to make it 24-12, but Porscha Kreger pinned Audree Robinson and State placer Adisyn Ivers pinned Mia Bruns at 135 to tie it once again.

Kelsi Hilton gave her team its final lead by pinning Caitlin Cooper in 3:38, then Kayla Arnold and Tessa Urrey received forfeits to clinch the dual.

Fiona Schalk pinned Kadence Grant at 170 and the Wildcats received a forfeit at 190, but neither team had a heavyweight, resulting in a double forfeit.

In the second dual the Sandites never led but clawed back from a 24-0 deficit to keep things close before the Jaguars ran away with the final three weight classes.

Returning State qualifiers Kyrain and Krystan Perez pinned Copeland and Chambers, the Sandites forfeited 110, and Michaela Pinley pinned Owens to start the dual.

Mirza snapped the Jaguars’ streak by pinning Paula Galindo in just 42 seconds, then Gifford and Robinson received forfeits. The teams traded pins from there.

Zusette Arellano pinned Bruns at 135, Hilton pinned Ashlyn Hyde in 2:49, Izzy Galindo pinned Arnold, Urrey pinned Kaysie Gallope in 4:48, and Pearl Galindo pinned Grant to make it 42-30. Sand Springs forfeited 190 and 235.

Sand Springs came into the night with momentum, ranked the highest in school history after winning the Diamond State Invitational last weekend.

“We’re definitely coming off a high, going a state over and representing Oklahoma wrestling,” said Cleveland.

“It’s all kind of coming together at the right time. I couldn’t be luckier to have such a great coaching staff, support group, and wrestlers. The girls are really just coming out of the hallways just to try it out. We’ve officially got a full lineup.”

“It’s the first team title. There’s a lot of firsts going on this year and so now we’re really searching for that first State qualifier and that first State placer.”

Sand Springs also competed at the Supergirl 64 tournament at Union High School over the weekend, taking 15th place out of 46 schools.

Hilton took second place at 140 pounds, winning her pool with three pins. In the gold bracket she won two more pins, beating Bixby State qualifier Jay’la Ford in the semifinals before dropping a 5-1 decision to Yukon State qualifier Trysten Rittberger.

She was the only Lady Sandite to place in the loaded tournament.

“We try to give our girls a tough schedule so Regionals is not a shock when they go in there,” said Cleveland.

Lady Sandites Win Diamond State Invitational Over Top Arkansas Teams

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Photo courtesy of Earl Shockley.

Charles Page High School has laid claim to its first ever tournament title in girls’ wrestling, winning the Diamond State Lady Invitational with four champions Saturday afternoon in Springdale, Arkansas.

Bailey Copeland, Ambrielle Chambers, Laila Mirza, and Kelsi Hilton all took top honors at the event while Tessa Urrey was runner-up and every Lady Sandite placed top-five.

Sand Springs earned 192 team points for a three-point advantage over Sylvan Hills, last year’s Arkansas 5A State Runners-Up. Placing third was defending Arkansas 6A State Champion Springdale Har-Ber with 147 points.

Copeland won the 100-pound bracket handily, pinning all four of her opponents while outscoring them 18-1. In the second round she took an 8-0 lead against Sylvan Hills State Runner-Up Emele Siegfried before pinning her in 3:36. Her other three opponents didn’t make it out of the first period.

Chambers won the gold at 105 pounds, also pinning all four of her foes while outscoring them 20-5. In the first round she pinned State Champion Farrah Crossno of Greenwood in 1:21.

Mirza won at 120 pounds with three pins, outscoring her opponents 21-0. All three of her pins came in under a minute and in the second round she won a 5-0 decision against Sylvan Hills State Runner-Up Chelsea Harmon.

Hilton won at 140 pounds, pinning all four of her foes, including Arkansas State qualifiers Kinalisa Lokot and Alyssa Beasley. She outscored her opponents 18-3, only surrendering escape points.

Urrey was runner-up at 155 pounds with a 6-2 record, with all six of her wins coming via fall. She had two wins over returning State qualifiers. In round eight she took a 7-0 lead on Har-Ber State Runner-Up Serena Valentine before pinning her in the second period, and in the final match she pinned Fayetteville’s Meya Flowers.

Mia Bruns placed third at 130, Kayla Arnold placed third at 145, Emily Ambriz placed third at 235, Zoe Butler placed fourth at 135, Gracie Gifford placed fourth at 125, Caryss Upton placed fifth at 110, Trinity Owens placed fifth at 115, and Kadence Grant placed fifth at 170.

The Lady Sandites (4-1) will return to action Thursday with duals against Westmoore (1-0) and Ponca City (0-2).

Lady Sandites Defeat Jenks on Senior Night, Place Second at Cleveland Tournament

The Charles Page High School girls wrestling team (4-1) rolled to a 54-24 victory against Jenks (0-1) Tuesday on Senior Night at the Ed Dubie Field House.

The two teams split 4-4 in matches that were actually wrestled, but the Sandites had the deeper roster and picked up five forfeits.

“The fact that we finally have a full girls dual lineup here at Sand Springs, it’s just been thanks to all these coaches helping to get these girls out,” said head girls assistant coach Trent Cleveland, who left the head coach position at Glenpool to lead the Lady Sandites this year.

“We’ve still got girls that are taking interest in it. This is year two, we started with four girls last year and the girls are just taking off with it.”

Bailey Copeland, Ambrielle Chambers, and Caryss Upton all received forfeits to start the dual 18-0 and the home team never trailed.

Addi Thompson pinned Trinity Owens at 115 to get the Trojans on the board and the teams double forfeited 120.

Gracie Gifford easily handled Brook Albyn at 125, taking an 8-3 lead into the the third period before pinning her in 5:14, then Zoe Butler and Audree Robinson received forfeits.

Kelsi Hilton clinched the dual at 140, taking a 9-1 lead against Mazzy Conley in the second period, reversing for a pin at 3:52 to go up 42-6.

Maddi Wilke pinned Kayla Arnold at 145 but Tessa Urrey responded with a pin of Nevaeh Maldonado with 13 seconds left in the match.

Jenks’s Mariah Jones pinned Kadence Grant at 170 and Elaine Kenny received an injury forfeit from Addily Shotwell in the first period, but Emily Ambriz capped the dual off by pinning Nylah Blackwell in 1:06 at heavyweight.

The victory is the latest sign that the girls wrestling program at Sand Springs is the real deal as the girls have put together a remarkable record in their first-ever dual season.

“We’ll be seeing these girls later down the road at Regionals,” said Cleveland. “Picking up a win over Sapulpa and now Jenks, we’re definitely making headway in 6A and trying to make some noise.”

The girls also took second place out of 30 teams at the Joe Cole Classic in Cleveland this past weekend, finishing only 13 points behind champion Bentonville West.

Hilton took first place at 140 pounds while Chambers, Laila Mirza, and Urrey finished as runners-up.

Hilton (16-2) pinned Bristow’s Abigail Jones in 1:17, Cleveland’s Zoe Zucca in 3:36, and Bentonville’s Samantha Graciano in 1:19.

Chambers (8-3) pinned her first two opponents at 105 before falling to Warner’s Rachel Torres in the finals.

Mirza (15-4) recorded two first-period falls at 120 and a 6-0 decision over Mannford’s Roseline Baker before falling to Bristow State qualifier Zoey Freeman in the finals.

Urrey (7-8) pinned her first two foes at 155 before falling to Henrietta’s Lily Haywood in the finals.

Shotwell placed fourth at 190 and Grant was fifth at 170.

Next up for the Lady Sandites will be a trip to Springdale, Arkansas for the Diamond State Lady Invitational on December 29th.