Sand Springs Wrestling Team qualifies four for Nationals

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The Charles Page High School wrestling team was well represented at the OK USA National Team Qualifier at Union this weekend, and four wrestlers qualified for Nationals this summer in Fargo, North Dakota. 

Junior three-time undefeated OSSAA State Champion Daton Fix wrestled at 126 pounds in Junior Freestyle and had no problem breezing through his opponents, teching Omar Pollard and Jet Taylor 10-0 each, and receiving a forfeit from Karson Bellmard for first place.

Junior Jack Karstetter, a 2016 State Runner-Up, wrestled at 132 pounds and placed second in Junior Freestyle with a 3-1 record. He defeated Gage Gomez by 10-0 tech fall, then narrowly edged out Westmoore's Dalton Duffield in an 11-11 tie breaker. Duffield went 41-4 this past high school season and came in runner-up to Fix at the State Championships. Karstetter picked up another tech fall with an 18-8 win over Billy Simpson in the semifinals. The final round pitted Karstetter against Garrett Rowe of Choctaw. Rowe went 40-5 last season and secured his second-consecutive State Championship. Karstetter battled hard but lost by 12-8 decision.

Junior State Placer Michael Ritchey also wrestled at 132 pounds but failed to place after giving up losses to Rowe and Duffield. He did defeat Vincent Eremita 8-7 and Jacob Reeves 14-4, however. 

Senior Sage Singleton competed at 120 pounds and gave up tech falls of 10-0 and 16-6 to Zachery Bibb and Jakob Lyons, respectively. 

In the Cadet division, Sophomore State Qualifier Blake Sargent placed third in 132 with a 4-1 record. He teched Spencer Schickram 10-0 and Kenneth Wolford 11-0 before giving up an 11-6 decision to Rodrick Mosley. In the consolation bracket he once again defeated Schickram, this time 17-6, then defeated Bobby Robinson 14-8 to secure his spot at Nationals.

Clyde Boyd Middle School student Caleb Phillips wrestled at 120 and went 2-2. He teched Josiah Holliday 12-0 and pinned Cayden Nelson in 31 seconds before falling to Zach Williams by 0:53 pin. Ryder Ramsey teched Phillips 10-0 to eliminate him from contention.

Sage Singleton also wrestled at 120 pounds in Junior Greco-Roman and placed third with a 1-2 record after teching Justin McHenry 16-5, getting pinned in 0:37 by Jakob Lyons, and forfeiting to Garrett Wild. 

9 Sandites remain at State, only slightly behind Broken Arrow and Choctaw

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The remaining Sandites have about an hour long break before the next round begins at the 6A State Championship in Oklahoma City. 

Charles Page wrestling qualified eleven for the tournament with seven Regional Champions, more than either Broken Arrow or the Dual State Champions from Choctaw. Unfortunately 220 pound junior and Regional Champion Delvin Jordan was unable to participate dropping the number to nine. 

106 freshman Riley Weir (20-12) came in third at Regionals and was pitted against Choctaw's Colt Newton (40-3) in the first round and was pinned in 0:41. From there he was majored 14-4 by Yukon's Braden Fowler and eliminated. 

113 Regional Champion Michael Ritchey (22-16) was defeated in round one by Westmoore's Wes Hardin (31-11) by a narrow 5-2 decision but managed to hold the lead in the next match for a 5-3 victory over Spencer Schickram (14-9) of Ponca City. 

120 Regional Champion Blake Sargent (36-10) went into overtime with Zackery Bibb (24-5) of Capitol Hill and lost 4-2 in the tie breaker round. He fell in an early hole to Justin Gundlach (29-11) of Moore and trailed 3-2 going into the final period, but rallied for a takedown and pin at 5:14 to stay alive in the consolation bracket. 

126 two-time undefeated State Champion Daton Fix (44-0) pinned Bobby Robinson (30-13) of Deer Creek in 1:37.

132 Regional Champion Jack Karstetter (38-7) breezed through his first match with a 17-2 tech fall over Norman's Jeffrey Adams (23-12) in 5:42.  

138 Regional Champion Beau Bratcher (40-6) pinned Choctaw's Jeff Speer (23-10) in 4:48. 

145 Regional Champion Payton Scott (18-4) pinned Westmoore's Trey Painter (32-10) in 3:52.  

160 Regional Runner-Up Zane Basma (32-11) scored an 8-3 decision over Sam Hensley (31-13) of Edmond Memorial.  

170 Trace Fleischman (10-4) placed fourth at Regionals but rebounded big time at State with a 3-1 upset of West Regional Champion Jacob Schimmels (23-6) of Edmond. 

The top three teams are as close now as they have been all season with Broken Arrow at 25.5, Choctaw at 25, and Sand Springs at 23.5.  

The semi finals will begin at 7:15.  

Sandite Blake Sargent wins Regional Championship, headed to State

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Blake Sargent works on a takedown against TaJuan Daniels.

Story and photo by: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Charles Page High School sophomore Blake Sargent (36-11) won his first Regional Championship by a single point, earning the #3 ranking in 6A. In the first round he pinned Garett Koss (Owasso) in 0:46, then defeated Grant Fox (Jenks) 3-2. Next to go down was #5 Justin Gundlach (Moore) by 6-3 decision, and Sargent was pitted against #4 TaJuan Daniels for the third time this season.

It's tough to beat an incredible wrestler three times in a season, especially one so close to you in talent. In the Broken Arrow dual the two ended the third period tied 2-2 and Sargent narrowly got the win with a sudden victory takedown. They next met at the Sand Springs Invitational in the finals round where it came down to a 3-2 decision for the Championship. Once more the crucial matchup was decided by a single point as the Sandite won his second tournament of the season with a 1-0 decision.

Sargent got to see a fair bit of action his freshman year, placing 3rd at both the Perry Tournament of Champions and the Jay Hancock Memorial Invitational. This year he repeated his 3rd place finish at Perry, came in 9th at the Kansas City Stampede, and finished 5th at Yukon.

This year he went undefeated in regular season duals before finally falling 9-8 to Wesley Hardin (30-11) during the Dual State Quarterfinals against Westmoore, then getting majored 10-1 by Garrett Rowe (37-5) during the Championship dual against Choctaw. He also gave up a 12-3 major to Rowe at Perry. Hardin will be wrestling at 113 at State. 

Rowe is the #1 seed in 120 going into State and is the biggest obstacle in Sargent's path. The two are on opposite sides of the bracket, though, and first Sargent must overcome #8 Zackery Bibb (23-5) of Capitol Hill in the opening round. This will be the first time the two have met. Bibb was last year's 5A State Runner-Up whose only losses were to the State Champ.

From there he will either get a rematch against Gundlach, or meet #2 Tanner Cole (34-1) of Deer Creek for the first time this season. That match will be every bit as difficult as Rowe. Cole was undefeated in the season till he met Rowe in the West Regional finals and was pinned. He also pulled off a one-loss season last year en route to a 5A State Championship title. Cole and Sargent have met once before, at the OK USA Freestyle State Tournament last May. Cole walked away with a 10-0 major decision that time. 

Other opponents that the Sandite could encounter include #7 Cordney Chairs (17-17) of Union, #6 Josh Suter (28-8) of Norman, and #4 TaJuan Daniels (24-11) of Broken Arrow. 

Sargent has yet to encounter Suter, but he has 3-0 records against both Daniels and Chairs. His most recent matchup with Chairs wasn't even close as he recorded an 11-0 major decision at Dual State. He also posted a 7-1 regular season dual victory, and defeated him at the Sand Springs Invitational semifinals. That one was a lot closer however, at 1-0.