Sand Springs Sports Roundup: Mack Taylor and Parker Haling take fourth at Skiatook tournament

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

Cross Country

The Sandites got their first taste of the postseason Tuesday at the Frontier Valley Conference Meet in Bartlesville. The girls didn’t have a full lineup, but the varsity boys played eighth and the junior high boys placed seventh.

Jazmin Lopez led the varsity girls with a 5K time of 24:32 for 37th place. Alejandro Lopez led the varsity boys in 19:15 for 30th place, closely followed by Noah Hanlon in 19:22 for 33rd. 

Chloe Grona led the junior high girls with an 11:57 two-mile run for fourth place. Taigh Wright led the junior high boys with a time of 11:39 for 13th. 

The varsity teams will return to action Saturday, October 23rd at Mohawk Park in the 6A-East Regional.

Fishing

Sandite duo Mack Taylor and Parker Haling placed fourth at the Oklahoma BASS Nation trail event on Lake Skiatook Saturday, catching three fish totaling 6.29 pounds. On Sunday they caught one fish weighing 1.19 pounds for 37th place. 

Standings have not been updated with this weekend’s results yet, but the duo should rank among the top 10 in the state. The OBN season will take a winter break and return to action April 2nd at Lake Tenkiller.

Softball

The Charles Page High School softball team recently ended the season with an 18-15 record as Regional runners-up. 

Despite not advancing to the State tournament, the Sandites showed flashes of brilliance this year, including wins over Edmond Memorial and El Reno, who did go to State. They pitched three shutouts and won seven games by run rule.

Lauren Hammock led the team in batting average (.446), on-base percentage (.532), and hits (41). Kelsi Hilton batted .413 and led the team in slugging (.543) with a team-best four triples and 30 RBI. Raegan Rector led the team in doubles (11) and Jolee McNally led in runs (36).

Rector led the team in put-outs with 183, and Avery Tanner led in assists with 66. Rector turned 14 double plays and Tanner had 12. Rector was also among the most efficient fielders, holding a .995 fielding percentage on 204 opportunities.

Hilton was the team’s ace pitcher this season, collecting a 10-6 record with a 4.5 ERA, 1.61 WHIP, and a team-high 46 strikeouts. Nataley Crawford went 5-6 in the circle with a 4.2 ERA, 1.65 WHIP, and 42 strikeouts.

The Sandites will graduate five seniors this year: Tanner, McNally, Hammock, Rector, and Taylor Skipper.

Volleyball

Sandite Volleyball wrapped up its season with a 14-20 record, going 2-6 in Frontier Valley Conference action, and winning its home tournament.

The girls played a tougher schedule than they have in the past few years, competing at several A-league tournaments, and 12 of their 20 losses came at the hands of eventual State Qualifiers. 

Payton Robbins led the offense with 259 kills, followed by Kasidy Holland with 204, Layla Lenex with 192, and Jacelyn Smith with 147. Robbins also led the team in aces with 49, followed by Charley Fahland with 36 and Smith with 34. 

Lenex led the team in blocks with 64, Robbins had 31, and Smith had 29. Fahland had a team-high 353 digs, Robbins had 265, and Teyha Johnson had 217. Johnson handled most of the setting, recording 689 assists.

Sand Springs will graduate Smith, Holland, Fahland, and Johnson this year.

Lady Sandite Cross Country qualifies for State as team, Aden Baughman qualifies individually

Photo: Scott Emigh

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Varsity Girls 5K

17:32 Cheyenne Walden 1st Place (PR-0:03)
20:01 Alexis Davis 15th Place
20:53 Tiqvah Soap 25th Place
22:27 Sara Abbet 54th Place (PR-0:37)
22:51 Elizabeth Watts 60th Place
23:27 Chezney Kelley 69th Place (PR-0:45)
24:32 Kaitlyn Walden 85th Place (PR-2:00)

Varsity Boys 5K

17:00 Aden Baughman 25th Place (PR-0:06)
17:28 Kaegan Murray 39th Place (PR-0:28)
18:36 Ian Baustert 65th Place (PR-0:06)
18:40 Phillip Elleman 67th Place (PR-1:38)
19:18 Nelson Yazzie 80th Place
19:19 Jaden Weiser 81st Place

It was a great weekend for the Charles Page High School varsity cross country teams. The girls took seventh place at the Regional 5K at Mohawk Park, just making the cut for State. This is their third time qualifying in four years, having just missed it last year. The boys failed to qualify as a team, but set several personal records.

The regional takes the top seven teams and the top seven individuals who weren't on qualifying teams. In 2015 the girls took eighth place, but sent three runners individually. According to Head Coach Chris Corbin, seniors Cheyenne Walden and Alexis Davis are now the first runners in the history of the program to qualify all four years. Sophomore Aden Baughman led the boys and qualified for the second straight year after placing fourth among runners who weren't on qualifying teams.

The girls finished seventh of fifteen teams with an average time of 20:45, their best "true" 5K of the season. Last week they finished in 20:27 at the Conference meet, but that track was a few hundred meters short. Oklahoma State-commit Cheyenne Walden secured her fourth Regional Title by an incredible margin of 53 seconds over the number two runner, Shay Stayton of Bartlesville. She also set a personal record of 17:32, a three-second improvement over last year's Regional time. This is her sixth first-place finish this year and 26th first-place finish of her career. The full qualifying squad is Alexis Davis, junior Tiqvah Soap, sophomore Sara Abbet, sophomore Elizabeth Watts, freshman Chezney Kelley, and freshman Kaitlyn Walden. Abbet, Kelley, and Kaitlyn Walden all set personal records. There were 106 runners in the girls race.

The boys took tenth of sixteen teams with an average time of 18:13, their fourth best this season. Senior Jacob Garbey, who usually finishes top-three among the Sandite boys, was unavoidably out of town for the race, and freshman Jaden Weiser was nursing a mild injury throughout the race and finished 28 seconds behind his previous performance. Garbey's presence might have made the difference between tenth and ninth place, but wasn't likely to help qualify the boys as a whole. Overall, the boys still performed well and finished with strong times all-around. Baughman set a personal record 17:00 finish, marking a six-second improvement over last year's Regional. Freshman Kaegan Murray set a personal record 17:28, improving 28 seconds over his previous best. He finished second among non-qualifying runners and was just nine seconds away from making the cut. Senior Ian Baustert finished his high school career with a PR 18:36, improving six seconds over his previous best. Junior Phillip Elleman also set a PR.

The State Championship will be held Saturday, October 29th at Edmond Santa Fe High School. The school is located at 1901 W. 15th Street, Edmond, Oklahoma. 6A Girls will begin at 12:00 p.m. followed by 6A Boys at 12:45 p.m. The awards assembly will be held at 1:30 p.m. Admission is $7.00 for adults and students.