For the first time in the Jarrod Patterson era, the doors were open to the public for the Charles Page High School wrestling team’s ranking matches, and it was quite the spectacle.
The Sandites and Keystone Kids wrestling club teamed up Thursday night at Clyde Boyd Middle School to host Meet the Sandites, as Sand Springs wrestlers at the elementary, junior high, and high school levels all settled who was the best in each weight class.
Sand Springs used to open the ranking matches to the public back when Kelly Smith was head coach, but the tradition ended around 2016. Smith retired in 2019, but is now back on the team as an assistant as his son, Mitchell, enters his junior year.
“We’re excited to have him back,” said Patterson. “We were just kind of talking, and he said that was one thing they used to do that kind of got kids excited, so I was kind of excited to bring it back.”
“It seems like it worked out awesome. It seemed like they got a lot of fan support, and it’s good from the youth all the way up to high school.”
The stands were certainly packed as the action went on simultaneously across three mats. On the varsity mat, the black team defeated the white in an evenly matched dual.
Many recognizable faces returned to mat duty, including state qualifiers Mitchell Smith and Brooks Dudley, who won their matches by fall. Missing were Blake Jones and Mason Harris, who are recovering from football injuries.
“We’ve got a couple kids that are injured, but once we get through those injuries I think we should be pretty good,” said Patterson. “We’ve got a good group. They’re all hard-working kids from freshmen to seniors, so I think we’ve got some good leadership in there that will help us in the long haul.”
The Sandites graduated only one starter last year and added lots of talented junior high up-and-comers to give the team some extra depth and competitiveness at every weight range.
“We’re pretty solid all the way through, so as long as we can stay healthy and just battle and continue to get better we should be a really solid team,” said Patterson.
“We’ll have three freshmen in there who have a chance at getting in the lineup. Our 106-pounder is David Ritchey, then Colt Hood will be in there some at 113, and Jaxon “Scout” Trotter will be in there at 138.”
They will lean on seniors Shane Wolf, Colton Luker, Ethan Norton, Sammy Naugle, Jones, and Dudley for leadership.
Last year the Sandites finished the season a surprising 4-6, snapping a 14-year streak of winning records, primarily due to COVID-related quarantines, injuries, and canceled duals. They still brought home four first-place tournament medals, however, and qualified four for the State tournament.
Varsity will kick off the season Friday at the Perry Tournament of Champions, and will battle Sapulpa in their first dual on Tuesday the 14th at 7:00 p.m. on the road.
The junior high team hosted its annual tournament Saturday at CBMS and the Gold team took home first prize, followed by the Black team in sixth place and the White team in 19th. The girls placed 12th in their division.
Dawson Briscoe won at 80 pounds with six pins, Kaden Pope won at 106 with six pins, Jace Simms won at 119 with three pins, and Bailey Copeland won 82 pounds for the girls with a pin and a 17-2 technical fall.
Hudson Sheppard, Jaden Allen, Waylon Jeffers, and Ryley Kester placed second. Jaxon Grigsby, Karsen Skaggs, Matthew Moore, Jackson Burdge, and Tanner Copeland placed third. Colt Hood, Caleb Childers, and Preston Reyna placed fourth
The Keystone Kids competed at Sperry and Owasso on Saturday. Weston Roberts, Ty Galloway, and Mylum Ache V won at the Owasso Ram Jam, while Julian Valdez, Hudson Waag, and Bailey Copeland won at the Sperry Smalltown Throwdown.
