Sandite of the Week: Carter Young takes Gold at Pan-American Championship in Colombia

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Clyde Boyd Middle School Eighth Grade student Carter Young was selected as the Sandite Pride Sandite of the Week for his outstanding performance at the first annual Schoolboy Pan-American Championship this past weekend.

The young Sandite departed last week for Medellin, Colombia as a member of the Team USA schoolboy wrestling squad. He was one of only ten Americans selected to the team, which featured three Oklahomans.

Young went undefeated in the Freestyle competition, taking the Gold medal with four technical falls without giving up a single point. He was named the Outstanding Wrestler of the Tournament for his dominating performance. In Greco-Roman he came in Runner-Up after losing in the finals and took home a Silver medal. 

Earlier this summer he took first place at the ASICS Kids Freestyle National Championship and achieved All-American honors in both Freestyle and Greco for going undefeated in the Schoolboy National Duals on Team Oklahoma. 

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Sandite of the Week is a weekly recognition given to any one person with significant ties to the Sand Springs community who accomplishes remarkable achievements during the Sunday through Saturday week preceding the award. Prior achievements may be noted in the article, but do not bear direct influence on the selection committee which only considers prior week accomplishments. Candidates may be nominated by anyone by emailing SanditePrideNews@gmail.com. The award is not given to anyone in consecutive weeks, but any recipient may be nominated and awarded again in the future, so long as the weeks are not consecutive. Final selection is made by a majority vote of the Sandite Pride Editorial Board.

Businesses or organizations seeking to sponsor the Sandite of the Week award may contact the above email for inquiries.

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. 

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.

Blake Sargent, Team Oklahoma place fifth in Greco Roman Nationals

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Charles Page High School junior Blake Sargent has spent the last two days in York, Pennsylvania wrestling with Team Oklahoma at the Cadet Dual Nationals, and he's ran up quite the record. The Greco-Roman tournament came to an end Thursday, and the Freestyle bracket will begin Friday morning.

Sargent finished his sophomore year with a 39-12 record and placed third in the State Championship. Since then, he's won the Team Big Freestyle Tournament and came in Runner-Up in the OKUSA Freestyle State Tournament in Cushing. 

Oklahoma was pitted against North Carolina in the first round of pool play and devastated their opponents, giving up only one match for a 73-5 victory, the third-largest win of any team in the tournament. Sargent kicked things off with the first match of the dual and pinned his opponent in the first period. North Carolina Greco State Runner-Up Phifer Ozimek went down in 2:11, setting the tone for the rest of the dual. Team Oklahoma won the next thirteen straight matches with nothing but pins and tech falls.

The next dual wasn't quite as big of a blowout as the first, but it was a clear and dominating victory, nonetheless. The Okies won twelve of seventeen matches over Florida for a final score of 55-25. Sargent put the icing on the cake, pinning Florida Greco State Champion Emauni Smithson in 1:27 for the final match of the dual.

Oklahoma finally met its match in the Pool A finals. Minnesota Storm raced off to a quick advantage with four-straight victories before Oklahoma evened it out with four of their own. The back and forth affair continued right down to the end, but Minnesota got the 39-33 edge. Sargent remained undefeated with a close 12-8 decision over Northern Plains Regional Champion Sebas Swiggum. Minnesota Storm would go on to sweep the entire tournament.

Thursday morning the Oklahoma team began battling in the Gold/Silver Pool against far tougher teams than their earlier opponents. Sargent teched his first opponent, Illinois Greco State Champion Jared Head (not to be confused with the Owasso wrestler of the same name) 11-1, but Illinois won the dual 48-27.

The Okies were in for another defeat in round two as Pennsylvania Blue won nine of seventeen matches for a narrow 44-31 victory. Sargent would lose his first match of the tournament in an 11-1 tech fall to 2015 USAW National Champion Beau Bartlett. 

From there Reece Witcraft filled in at the 126 weight for the duration of the tournament. Sargent finished with an overall record of 4-1. Oklahoma rebounded from the pair of tough losses with a 41-35 victory over New Jersey Red and secured the fifth place spot with a 42-33 win over Washington.

The Freestyle Dual Nationals will begin Friday morning against New Jersey Blue. Last week, in the Schoolboy Dual Nationals, Team Oklahoma placed ninth in Greco and improved to seventh in Freestyle. Sand Springs's Carter Young went undefeated in both styles at that tournament and achieved All-American status.

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.

CPHS senior Jack Karstetter comes in Runner-Up at National Championship

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Charles Page High School senior Jack Karstetter picked up some of the most impressive wins of his career in Akron, Ohio this weekend at the University of Akron. 

In the United World of Wrestling Cadet Greco-Roman Nationals Karstetter came in runner-up after falling to Wyoming Seminary junior Jack Davis in the finals. The Blue Knights finished the high school season ranked second in the nation by FloWrestling.

Karstetter secured a pair of impressive victories in the early rounds with a 5-4 decision over Theorius Robison, and a 4-1 decision over Rylee Molitor, both of whom hold multiple national titles. In the semi-finals he defeated PJ Gohn 5-0 and went to a best-of-three championship series against Davis.

Davis won the first match with a 5-2 decision, but Karstetter came out amped in the next battle for a dominating 12-5 victory. It came down to the wire in the final round but Davis got the 3-2 edge for the National Title.

In the Freestyle tournament Karstetter breezed through the early competition, scoring a pair of 10-0 tech falls. He defeated 2015 ASICS National Runner-Up Phillip Moomey and Georgia Freestyle State Champion Davion Fairley without allowing a single point. 

The next match wouldn’t be nearly as easy as he went into an ultimate tie-breaker round against Missouri State Champion Andrew Gamble. Karstetter came out with the 8-8 win, however, after riding out the final round and advanced to the quarter finals.

The winning streak finally came to an end in a 12-2 tech fall to USAW 2015 Cadet Freestyle National Champion Sammy Sasso. In the next round, Karstetter was pinned in 0:55 by Marco Regalbuto and eliminated from contention. 

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This story was originally published in the Sandite Pride News Weekly Sunday edition.