Sandites Crown Six Champions at Union Open

The Sand Springs wrestling team crowned six champions at the Union/Pryor Ice Fighter Open Saturday in Tulsa, including three high schoolers and three junior high wrestlers.

High School Boys

Preston Reyna won the 144A bracket with three pins, taking out Broken Arrow’s Robert Miller in the finals in 2:41.

Zander Grigsby won the 175A bracket, outscoring his opponents 25-2 with two decisions and a 13-0 major decision against Stillwater’s Noah Perkins in the finals.

Jaxon Grigsby was runner-up at 132BA, outscoring his first four foes 47-1 with three major decisions and a technical fall before falling 1-0 to Coweta’s Toby Shipman in the finals.

Peyton Callis was runner-up at 190, pinning his first two opponents and winning a 7-5 decision against Broken Arrow’s Braden Jones in the semis before falling 6-2 to Stillwater’s Parker Brown in the finals.

Kase Skaggs placed third at 120B, pinning his first two foes before falling to Broken Arrow’s Hudson Beckley. In consolation he won a pair of decisions.

Jaxon Trotter placed third at 175B, with a major decision, a technical fall, and a pin. He fell 11-0 to Edmond North’s Jude Randall in the semifinals but pinned Union’s Jeremiah T’eo in the consolation finals.

Ayreson Reiss placed fourth at 113A, winning three decisions in the consolation bracket, with both of his losses coming to the same wrestler. Broken Arrow’s Bradley Lazzerini pinned Reiss in the first round and received a medical forfeit in the placement match.

Matthew Moore placed fourth at 138A with two pins and a decision, only losing a pair of decisions including a close 7-6 finale against Poteau’s Jake Fredrickson.

Colt Chambers finished with a winning 3-2 record at 132BA, pinning his first three foes in the first period before being eliminated one round short of placement.

High School Girls

Ambrielle Chambers won the 105 bracket with three first-period falls, taking down Enid’s Kadence Fuksa in the finals.

Trinity Owens placed third at 115, losing her first match to Broken Arrow’s Kristen DeLaRosa before pinning her next two opponents in the first period.

Laila Mirza placed third at 120, pinning her first opponents in 0:24 before giving up a fall in the semifinals to Broken Arrow’s Emily Beckley. In consolation she won a 7-0 decision before pinning Union’s Ma’Kadrian Titus in 18 seconds.

Audree Robinson placed fourth at 130, winning a 12-3 major decision in the consolation semifinals before falling to Henryetta’s Kiley Haywood.

Kayla Arnold went 2-2 at 140 with a decision and a pin, but was eliminated one round short of placement.

Junior High Boys (8th/9th Grade)

Kaden Pope won the 132-pound bracket with four pins and a 10-2 major decision over Owasso’s Jaxon Truitt in the finals.

Hunter Fields placed third at 155 with four pins and an 11-0 major decision, only falling 7-0 to Booker T. Washington’s Maximus Houston in the semifinals. In the consolation finals he pinned Fort Gibson’s Kolt Stevens in 2:52.

Brody Wilson went 4-2; Caleb Childers and Joshua Compton went 3-2; and Andrew Price, Kellen Foster, Conner Mcentire, Elijah Hadley, Camryn Ewing, and Blake Norton all went 2-2, but were eliminated short of placement.

Junior High Girls

Kenzi Johnson took first place at 89 pounds with an 18-3 technical fall and a pin of Ponca City’s Jaycee Wardlow in 1:02 in the finals.

Savannah Taylor was runner-up at 102 pounds, outscoring her first two opponents 19-2 before falling to Broken Arrow’s Jaylyn Lazzerini in the finals.

Lyla Waldren placed fourth at 102 with a sudden-victory decision and a pin, with both of her losses coming to Cleveland’s Hannah Stephenson.

Faith Humble went 2-2 but was eliminated short of placement.

Boys Middle School (6/7th Grade)

Brody Flores was runner-up at 73 pounds, going 2-1 in a round robin with a decision and a forfeit.

Gage Buchanan went 2-2 at 119 but was eliminated short of placement.

Girls Middle School

Kambyr Lee won the 145-pound bracket with two pins.

Chloe Strawn placed third at 82, pinning McAlester’s Lily Dykens in 1:56.

Liz Cline placed third at 126 with a decision and a forfeit.

Baylin Maynard placed third at 138 with two first-period falls.

Brylee Smith placed fourth at 155.

The Lady Sandites also recently held the program’s first ever junior high dual meet at Cleveland, falling 48-30.

Sandite Wrestling Falls 59-12 to Bixby at Dual State

The Charles Page High School wrestling team ended the dual season with a 59-12 loss to nationally ranked Bixby (18-3) in the first round of the Dual State tournament Friday in Enid.

The Spartans took a 35-0 lead before heavyweight Mason Harris won a 2-0 decision against Garrett Ritter. Kase Skaggs won a 5-1 decision against Chase Dyer and David Ritchey pinned Tucker Clark to make it 35-12, but the Spartans won the final four matches by fall.

The Sandites ended the year with a 13-5 record, their best mark since 2019.

Sand Springs will return to action at the OSSAA 6A-East Regional Friday at Jenks. The Sandites placed sixth in Regionals last season and will be looking to crown their first Regional Champion since 2019.

Youth

The Keystone Kids wrestling club competed at the OKWA Northwest Regionals in Newkirk on Saturday and won the Open 15U category. The Keystone Kids had ten total champions, including several members of the Charles Page High School team.

Ayreson Reiss, Preston Reyna, Jace Simms, Hagan Wolfenberger, Isaac Sensintaffar, Hudson Waag, Na’Kya Canady, Karson Waag, Sutton Hawley, Ryley Kester all won their divisions.

Kason Wolfe, Ryker Dawes, Trey Tunnell, and Kydon Harness finished as runners-up; Mason Londo, Audree Robinson, and Rowdy Ash placed third; Holden Yingst, Maddix Spencer, Carsten Reiss, and Hunter Fields placed fourth; Ethan Schueler placed fifth; and Joshua Compton placed sixth.

All top-eight finishers qualified for the 45th annual OKWA State Championship that will be held February 17-18 at the Tulsa Fairgrounds Pavilion.

Laila Mirza Becomes First-Ever Girls Tournament Champion from Sand Springs

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Laila Mirza is officially the first ever regular-season tournament champion for the Sand Springs girls wrestling program.

The junior 120 pounder won the Joe Cole Classic in Cleveland, helping her team to a program-best 2nd place finish. All five Lady Sandites placed top-four in their divisions.

“I found her in the weight room because I help coach (Kevin) Avey with the girls weightlifting,” said head coach Ty Bowling, who started the girls’ program this year.

“She tries to get as much extra work (during free period) or during weightlifting period when they’re not lifting weights, and she’ll stay after practice.”

“She’s one that gets here early and stays late,” said Bowling.

Mirza pinned her first two opponents without giving up a single point, then received two forfeits in the round-robin bracket.

“She’s run cross country and she’s ran some track, and she told me at the beginning of the year that she had never ever won a medal.”

“That preseason tournament she went to she got first, then she took sixth (at Jay) and got a medal there, and then she got first here, so she’s kind of three for three on the medals in wrestling.”

Kelsi Hilton placed third at 140 pounds with three pins, only losing in a close 8-5 decision to the tournament champion.

Addily Shotwell placed third at 170 with one pin. Kreedence Behnke placed third and Madison Chambers was fourth at 100 pounds.

“Our girls are working hard,” said Bowling. “Wrestling’s not an easy sport and they’re in here every day doing it exactly like the boys are doing.”

“We’re not trying to put too much pressure on them, but we’re telling them how they’re going to be forever remembered as the girls that started (the program) and have a chance to be the first ever Sand Springs girls State qualifiers.”

The junior varsity boys placed fourth at the tournament despite mostly facing varsity competitors.

Kase Skaggs won the 113-pound bracket and four other Sandites also medaled.

Skaggs outscored his opponents 51 to 13 with a pin and two major decisions before earning a 4-2 decision over State qualifier Daxtyn Davis.

Peyton Callis was runner-up at 165 with three pins; Cash Lucas was runner-up at 285 with three pins; Jesse Moore placed third at 144 with four pins; and Logan Childers placed fourth at 113 with three pins.

The junior high boys team placed 12th with two total medalists and the junior high girls placed 14th with one medalist.

Gage Gunn placed fourth at 132 with three pins; Dallas Flores placed fourth at 155 with five pins; and Rylee Allen placed fourth at girls 117 with two pins.

The Keystone Kids wrestling club had no problem winning the Sand Springs Slam tournament over the weekend with 28 champions, nearly tripling the score of runner-up Barnsdall.

Jase Morgan, Maddix Spencer, Hagan Wolfenberger, Kason Wolfe, Acetyn Hart, Sutton Hawley, Zander Pope, Rylan Hamby, Ty Galloway, Samuel Moore, Joshua Compton, Griffin Sensintaffar, Ayreson Reiss, David Ritchey, Matthew Moore, Kasen McAffrey, Samuel Reichel, Jaxon Trotter, Brenntly Taylor, Jayce Parks, Caemon Young, Ryker Dawes, Collin Randall, Hunter Sims, Colt Combs, Kydon Harness, Gage Buchanan, and Saylor Eaglin all won their divisions.

The varsity boys and girls will return to action Tuesday, December 20th with home duals against Sapulpa at 6:00 p.m.

Jenks-Transfer Corbin Wooley Having Successful Season in Sand Springs

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When Corbin Wooley was five years old, he wanted to play football. But after getting hit by a car as he was crossing the street, he missed signups while he recovered.

Following his uncle’s advice, he signed up for wrestling instead. Nearly ten years later and wrestling has long since replaced football as his passion.

“It’s like a daily ritual for me,” says Wooley. “I train almost every single day. The only day I don’t practice is my tournament days.”

In addition to wrestling with the Clyde Boyd Middle School junior high team, he also trains with the Keystone Kids wrestling club, Team Tulsa, and the Threestyle Wrestling club.

That commitment has paid off for the eighth-grader, who has already won three tournaments this November, with runner-up finishes in two others.

Wooley originally lived in Jenks before making the move to Sand Springs for middle school. He has fit right in as a Sandite and has also found a place on the conference champions eighth grade football team, playing safety and receiver.

Just as an injury helped Wooley find wrestling as a child, an injury also took him away from the sport this past year.

One year ago, at the Bixby Thanksgiving Classic, Wooley suffered a season-ending injury. His elbow was both broken and dislocated, requiring surgery and physical therapy.

“When it first happened I had a lot of things going through my head,” said Wooley. “I was definitely scared. I had so much adrenaline that it didn’t feel real.”

Fortunately, he has mostly recovered from the injury and hasn’t lost much mobility.

“There are definitely some occasions where I’ll be scared of something happening and I’ll have to give up a hold or something because of positioning, but besides that I really don’t worry too much about it.”

Prior to his injury, Wooley won a dozen tournaments in 2021, including OKUSA novice state titles in both freestyle and greco-roman.

This year he has already won the Bixby Junior High Open, the Union Open, and the Bixby Thanksgiving Classic. He was also runner-up at the Mat Gear Monster Brawl and the TTWC Veterans Day Classic.

Over those five tournaments he has gone 19-2 with 16 pins, outscoring his opponents 67 to 12.

“I feel like I’m doing pretty good this season,” said Wooley. “I’m hoping I can just keep this streak going. I know there’s definitely going to be some good kids in my bracket. I don’t worry too much about it, I just want to wrestle as best as I can.”

“He’s a good kid,” says Sand Springs junior high coach Cody Karstetter. “He didn’t get to compete as a seventh-grader, so he kind of missed out on that year, but I know he’s been working hard in the offseason and with his club team and on his own time, trying to get back from that injury.”

“He’s grown, he’s matured a little bit physically. I think right now we’ve just got to get him in the right mental spot and the sky's the limit for him.”

Because of his in-state success, he has also been selected to compete on the Oklahoma junior high team at the Holiday Duals National Tournament in Virginia Beach this December, but he needs a little help getting there.

The Wooleys are looking to raise $500 to help with the cost of travel before they leave on December 5th. Anyone looking to help can cashapp Rachelle Wooley at $ihav2angels or can email her at rachelleWooley@hotmail com.

The youth and junior high wrestling programs in Sand Springs have a lot more stars than just Wooley, and seven other Keystone Kids won their brackets at the Thanksgiving Classic.

“I expect to have a pretty good year,” said Karstetter. “We’ve got a lot of older guys and some younger guys who have kind of stepped into a little bit of a leadership role.”

“We’re starting to kind of click as a team. This week we get all of our freshmen in the room and those guys make a huge difference as well.”

Hagan Wolfenberger, Wes Wilson, Camon Martin, Ayreson Reiss, Kasen McAffrey, Ryker Dawes, and Brackton Upton all placed first in their divisions.

Carsten Reiss, Blaze Ingram, Karsen Waag, Collin Randall, Na’Kya Canady were runners-up; Kayden Worthington, Colt Combs, Gage Buchanan placed third; and Ty Galloway, Joshua Compton, Landon Replogle, Grayson Shoopman placed fourth.

Sand Springs will host its annual junior high home tournament December 2-3 at the middle school.

Sports Roundup: Rector and McNally get All-State, Wrestling kicks off season at Bixby

A version of this story was originally written for the Sand Springs Leader.

The Charles Page High School softball team picked up All-State accolades for the fourth consecutive year this week, and had more than one All-State player for the 17th time in school history.

Raegan Rector (Corner Infield) and JoLee McNally (Utility Outfield) were named to the All-State softball team, and Avery Tanner was named an alternate at Middle Infielder. The All-State games will be played June 11, 2022 at Oklahoma Christian University in Edmond. 

48 Sandite softball players have been named to the All-State team in school history.

Rector led the team in fielding percentage this season at .995 to go with a .352 batting average and .477 slugging percentage. McNally .919 in the field with a .379 batting average and .495 slugging percentage.

Rector, McNally, Tanner, and Lauren Hammock (Utility Outfield) received All-Region accolades as well. 

Rector and Tanner will both be signing collegiate letters of intent to play for Oklahoma Wesleyan University Wednesday, November 10th.

Volleyball

Charley Fahland, Jacelyn Smith, Kasidy Holland, Payton Robbins, and Olivia Dewitt all received Frontier Valley All-Conference honorable mentions after helping their team to a 14-20 record this season. Tehya Johnson and Layla Lenex were named to the All-Conference Second Team. 

All fifteen members of the varsity volleyball team received Academic All Conference accolades, and the team received an OSSAA Academic Achievement award for a cumulative GPA of 3.25 or above.

The volleyball program is currently hiring for two assistant coaching positions, including varsity assistant and middle school coach. Interested applicants can contact derek.jackson@sandites.org for more information.

Wrestling

The wrestling preseason kicked off Saturday at Bixby, where Sand Springs crowned three junior high and one high school champion.

Mitchell Smith, the Sandites’ top performer at last year’s State tournament, got off to a hot start with three pins to win the 152-pound bracket, beating all of his opponents in the first period.

Zander Grigsby placed second at 126, Shane Wolf placed second at 132, James Robey placed second at 152, Carter Goodman placed second at 160, and Adrian Hernandez placed second at 182.

Jesse Moore placed third at 138, Sammy Naugle placed third at 145, Jayden Pait placed fourth at 126, and Brody Ensten placed fourth at 152.

The high school team was missing Blake Jones, Brooks Dudley, and other top competitors who are still focused on football season.

Bailey Copeland, David Richey, and Jaxon Trotter all won titles for the junior high team. Copeland recorded two falls at 73 pounds, Richey had three pins at 112, and Trotter had four pins at 132.

Dawson Briscoe placed second at 80, Brady Moore was second at 119, Kase Skaggs placed third at 98, Ayreson Reiss placed third at 112, Colt Hood was third at 119, Isaac Sensintaffar was third at 126, and Corbin Wooley was fourth at 119.

The Keystone Kids youth wrestling team competed at the Claremore Invitational where Kasen McAffrey, Hudson Waag, Luke Hall, Maddix Spencer, Jase Crain, and Mylum Ache V won first place in their divisions. 

Collecting silver medals for the Keystone Kids were Rixon Hathaway, Rylan Hamby, Karson Waag, Zayden Anderson, Joshua Drury, Samuel Moore, Joshua Compton, Khamdyn Patterson, Jase Morgan, Julian Baker, Caemon Young, Raelie Hamby, and Zailyn Garland.