CPHS senior Daton Fix wins Bronze at World Championship in France

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Charles Page High School Senior and sixteen-time National Champion Daton Fix secured his second consecutive World Championship Bronze medal Sunday morning. The eighteen-year-old Pan-American Champion and undefeated High School wrestler left for Macon, France last Tuesday after spending time at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado.

The Junior Freestyle World Championship began Saturday and Fix lost his opening match in a 9-6 decision to 2014 Junior World Champion Khasankhusein Badrudinov of Russia. The match was tied 1-1 when Badrudinov got Fix in a headlock and rolled him three times. Fix retaliated with a takedown and a turn, but was unable to get the win.

Badrudinov won his next match 6-2 over Canada's Darthe Capellan and pulled Fix through in repechage. Fix dominated Capellan with a 10-0 tech fall and followed it up with another tech fall shutout of Mikyay Salim Naim of Bulgaria.

At 11:00 a.m. Central time Fix won his second Bronze medal with a 10-3 decision over Senior European Championship Runner-Up Andriy Yatsenko of Ukraine. Yatsenko won his first two matches by tech fall, including a 10-0 victory over Mukhambet Kuatbek of Kazakhstan, before falling 8-7 to Badrudinov. Kuatbek defeated Fix in the Junior Olympic finals in 2012 and again this summer at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Fix may not have beaten Kuatbek yet, but in a way he got the win Saturday by beating the man who beat him. Yatsenko is a two time Cadet World Champion, so the win marks quite the achievement for Fix. 

We haven't gotten word yet on what's next for Daton, but the young man still has his senior year of high school ahead of him where he looks to be the first four-time State Champion in Sand Springs history. The Sandites placed third in State and second in Dual State last season and have some impressive returning wrestlers for this year and some exciting young additions to the team, setting them up well for the season. 

Four Sandites will represent Oklahoma at Jr Dual Nationals

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The Junior Dual Nationals will return to the Cox Business Center in Tulsa on June 22nd. The Tournament will last through the 25th and will feature four Charles Page High School wrestlers.

Last year Team Oklahoma bulldozed their way through both styles, placing fourth in Greco and first in Freestyle. That talented team included three Sandites. Cody Karstetter and Kyler Childers had just graduated that year and are now wrestling the collegiate circuit. Daton Fix is back to help his State defend its title.

Riley Weir just finished his Freshman year with a 21-12 record at the 106 pound class and a State Championship appearance. Weir placed fourth at the Perry Tournament of Champions and ninth at the highly prestigious Kansas City Stampede. He came in third at the Regional Championship to qualify for State, but was eliminated after losing his first two matches. Weir nursed an injured elbow throughout the final weeks of the high school season and wasn’t even close to full strength in the post-season. This event will be a great demonstration of his true potential in the upcoming high school season.

Jack Karstetter finished his Junior year with a 39-8 record and placed second at 132 pounds in the State Championship after giving up a heart-breaker 3-2 decision to Kruz Simons of Edmond North. Throughout the high school season he placed fourth at Perry, ninth at Kansas City, second at the Geary Invitational, first at the Sand Springs Invitational, first at the Jay Hancock Memorial, and secured the Regional Championship.

Since school let out he came in Runner-Up at the UWW Cadet Greco-Roman Nationals and secured his spot on Team USA for the Pan-American Championships in Lima, Peru this July.

Daton Fix is earning his way into the history books after completing his third straight undefeated high school season. He’s currently sitting at an overall record of 118-0 with three-straight State Championships. He’s only the second Sandite in school history to win three State Championships, the first being David McGuire from 1963-1965. No Sandite has won four.

Since the high school season ended, Fix won the UWW Junior Freestyle National Championship, defeated the Iranian Champion Kheyrollah Gharamani at the Beat The Streets Gala in Times Square, and scored a pair of 10-0 tech falls over National Champion Austin Gomez to earn his way onto the USA World Team.

Fix will compete at the Grand Prix of Spain, a Senior level tournament in Madrid from July 9-10, then will travel to Fargo, North Dakota for the Junior Freestyle Nationals from July 16-23 where he is a defending Champion. From August 30th through September 4th he will compete at the UWW World Championship in Macon, France.

Payton Scott finished his Sophomore year with a 19-6 record at 152 pounds and placed fourth in the State Championship. He missed the first half of the season while getting back in shape after a long and grueling football post-season, but placed fourth at Geary, second at Sand Springs, and first at the Regional Championship.

Scott was also a member of last year’s Cadet National Dual Team that finished seventh in Freestyle and second in Greco. Overall he went 13-3 between the two styles.

Other Team Oklahoma members include:

• Alex Fields of Guthrie, 2016 Southern Plains Regional Champion in both styles.
• Rhett Golowenski of Tuttle, two-time OSSAA 4A State Champion.
• Mason Naifeh of Tulsa Union, two-time OSSAA 6A State Placer.
• Wyatt Adams of Lawton MacArthur, 2015 OSSAA 5A State Champion.
• Dalton Duffield of Westmoore, three-time OSSAA 6A finalist, 2015 Fargo National Champion.
• Jacob Butler of Elgin, 2016 OSSAA 4A State Champion.
• Kaden Gfeller of Heritage Hall, three-time undefeated OSSAA 3A State Champion.
• Brik Filippo of Tuttle, 2016 OSSAA 4A State Champion, two-time finalist.
• Beau Guffey of Tuttle, three-time OSSAA 4A State Champion.
• Jaryn Curry of Choctaw, 2016 OSSAA 6A State Champion, 2015 USAW Cadet National Runner-Up.
• Dayton Garrett of Tuttle, three-time OSSAA 4A State Finalist, 2015 State Champion.
• Wyatt Sheets of Stilwell, four-time OSSAA 4A State Champion, Oklahoma State commit.
• Christian Bahl of Stillwater, 2016 OSSAA 6A State Champion.
• Dan Baker of Sulphur, 2016 OSSAA 3A State Champion.
• Drew Hinkle of Jenks, 2016 OSSAA 6A State Runner-Up.
• Zach Marcheselli of Broken Arrow, 2016 OSSAA 6A State Champion.
• Bear Hughes of Coweta, 2016 OSSAA 5A State Champion.
• Gunner Cash of Tecumseh, two-time OSSAA 4A State Qualifier.
• Gage Johnson of Norman North, 2016 OSSAA 6A State Runner-Up.
• Trenton Lieurance of Broken Arrow, two-time OSSAA 6A State Placer.

Daton Fix breezes through Iranian Champion in Times Square

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Charles Page High School junior Daton Fix added another big name to his list of quality wins last night in New York City.

Wrestling at the "United In The Square" event in Times Square, the outstanding athlete became the first junior-level wrestler to ever compete on the main card at the annual Beat the Streets gala. Fix's Team USA allies included Olympic Gold Medalist Jordan Burroughs and NCAA Champion J'den Cox as well as a smattering of 2016 Olympic Qualifiers and World Champions.

His opponent was Kheyrollah Ghahramani, who, like Fix, is a World Championship Bronze Medalist. The Iranian also holds a Silver Medal from the Asian Championship. Fix scored a quick takedown in the first minute of the match and followed it with a turn, holding a 4-0 lead as the first period expired. Ghahramani put points on the board early in the second period, but by the 4:25 mark Fix had scored another takedown and wrapped up the tech fall with a series of turns for a 14-3 finish.

Fix will have only two days to prep for the World Team Trials Monday in Irving, Texas, where he aims to earn his spot at the World Championships in Macon, France later this summer. After securing a title at the UWW Junior National Championship in Las Vegas a few weeks ago, Fix won't have to wrestle the entire bracket and instead gets to compete against the 55 KG finalist in a best-of-three series. 

Fix first made the Cadet World Championship in 2014 when he competed in Slovakia and placed tenth after falling 6-3 to Iran's Rahmatabadi Kaveh. That same summer he competed at the Youth Olympics in China and earned a Silver Medal. Last year he went 4-1 at the World Championships in Bosnia and brought home Bronze after defeating wrestlers from Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, and Uzbekistan. 

Anyone who would like to contribute to Fix and support his quest for Gold can make a donation by clicking HERE.