No. 1 Sand Springs tops Kansas No. 1 Manhattan 53-24 with ten match wins

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Oklahoma can officially claim to be better than Kansas after the No. 1 teams in each state went head-to-head Saturday afternoon at the Owasso Ram Duals. 6A No. 1 Sand Springs (14-0) came from behind to top the No. 1 Manhattan Indians in ten of fourteen matches. 

Senior State Runner-Up Beau Bratcher (33-6, 124-29) won a 3-0 decision over two-time State Champion Mason Wallace to kick things off in the Sandites' favor, then the Indians put the Okies on their toes as State Qualifier Jalin Harper pinned Payton Scott (28-2, 49-10) in 3:38 to put the Sandites in an unusual position: behind. With an average dual score of 66-8, the Sandites haven't trailed all season long, but Manhattan led for five-straight matches before Sand Springs found their feet in the lower weights.

Noah Almy (16-15) was pinned in 1:22 by State Qualifier Zephry Killham. Zane Basma (17-2, 79-27) responded by pinning State Qualifier Chance Henderson in 1:25. State Qualifier Robert Houston picked up another fall for the Indians in 2:52 over Hayden Cramer (7-5), then the Sandites finally took the lead with pins from Gage Fain (23-10, 36-32) and Delvin Jordan (32-2, 63-14). Fain topped Christian Schlepp in 4:48 and Jordan picked up his 25th pin of the season in 25 seconds against State Qualifier Hunter Christensen. 

The Indians got back in the lead with a fall at heavyweight as State Runner-Up Eldon Picou pinned Dominique Pipes (2-5, 2-7) in 0:15, but those would be the last points Manhattan would score.

Riley Weir (29-6, 50-18) picked up his 50th win with a pin of Tate Sauder in 0:53. Tanner Ward (25-8, 101-20) received a forfeit. Michael Ritchey (27-8, 56-32) pinned State Qualifier Joe Braun in 1:52. Blake Sargent (27-8, 79-22) pinned State Qualifier Abraham Sanchez in 1:28. Daton Fix (34-0, 152-0) worked up a 24-9 tech fall against freshman Bubba Wilson, and Jack Karstetter (20-1, 93-16) won a 9-3 decision over State Runner-Up Devin Norris to finish the dual.

Sand Springs will battle 3A No. 1 Perry (14-1) at 2:30 in the championship round. Perry boasts one State Champion, two State Runners-Up, and eleven total State Qualifiers--nearly identical to the Sandite lineup. The Maroons' only loss this season was to 4A No. 1 Tuttle (9-0), who is nationally ranked by FloWrestling at No. 11. The Sandites are fifteenth in the nation and have already topped Perry at both the Perry Tournament of Champions and the Kansas City Stampede, but there were few head-to-head matches between the teams at either tournament. 

Oklahoma dominates Georgia 68-2 in Dual Nationals round one

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Team Oklahoma got off to a fast start against Team Georgia Blue in the first round of the Junior Greco-Roman Dual Nationals Wednesday morning, building up a massive lead before the wrestling even started.

Jet Taylor, Jacob Butler, and Jaxen Gilmore received forfeits for 126 to 138. Tuttle's Brik Filippo wasted no time in putting points on the board with a 10-0 tech fall over Khyree Alexander, then Sand Springs's Payton Scott took down Dustin Berry 10-0 in thirty seconds flat. Ezequiel Rubio pinned Cole White in a quick twenty then Nick Mahan teched Chandler Miele 13-2.

Bear Hughes continued the winning streak with an 11-0 tech over Devyn Villafane. Zach Marcheselli received a forfeit, Tanner Hawkins picked up a 16-6 tech fall over Richard Walker, then Trenton Lieutance, Alex Fields, and Wyatt Adams all received forfeits.  Alec McDoulett teched Brandon Foster 11-0 and Westmoore's Dalton Duffield wrapped things up with a 12-0 tech of Alex Cain for a final score of 68-2 with no matches lost.

Up next for Oklahoma is Team Pennsylvania who solidly defeated Team Kansas Red 49-12 in round one. 

Carter Young wins Southern Plains Regional Championship

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Clyde Boyd Middle School student Carter Young is racking up yet another incredible summer resume and is currently sitting at a 50-5 record in 2016 after a dominating weekend in Dodge City, Kansas.

Saturday Young won a pair of tech falls and pinned one opponent in only 0:45 seconds on the way to his third consecutive Southern Plains Greco Roman Regional Championship. On Sunday he defeated Kansas's Devon Weber 10-0 in the Freestyle semi-finals and teched Colorado's Vince Cornella 12-2 for his third straight Freestyle Championship.

The eighth grade prodigy has been traveling all over since the school season ended, and has won tournaments inBerryhill, Putnam City, Owasso, Cushing, and more. At one point he rode a 26-straight winning streak before it came to an end in the OKUSA Schoolboy Freestyle State Championship. He won the State title in Greco-Roman, but settled for Runner-Up in Freestyle after getting pinned for the first time this year by Jordan Williams in the final round.

Last month Young found himself in Rochester, Minnesota for the Northern Plains Regional. This was the wrestler’s first time at the event and he fared well, dropping only three matches between the Freestyle and Greco tournaments. In Greco-Roman he teched his first two opponents by a combined 21-0, but lost 4-4 in an ultimate tie-breaker round to Landen Parent. He rebounded with a 12-4 win in his next match, but dropped a 14-3 tech fall to Chance Lamer for fourth place. In the Freestyle bracket he had a few close calls, riding out an 8-8 ultimate tie-breaker win over Matthew Hogue, but dropping a 2-1 decision to Iowa’s Matthew Lewis and taking third place.

Back in April, Young came in first place in both styles at the OKUSA National Team Qualifier at Union High School, earning him a spot on Team Oklahoma at the Schoolboy National Duals in Indianapolis, Indiana. That tournament will beginWednesday June 8th and run through Sunday June 12th.