Mason Harris Claims Gold, Sandites Place 3rd at Bobby Lyons Invitational

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A championship victory from heavyweight Mason Harris led the Charles Page High School boys’ wrestling team to a third place finish at the 60th annual Bobby Lyons Invitational Saturday afternoon at the Ed Dubie Field House.

Harris pinned his first four opponents before earning a 2-0 decision against Bixby senior Garrett Ritter in the finals to become the first Sandite to win the tournament since 2019.

“Me and Ritter - we’ve wrestled, I think, every year of high school,” said Harris, a senior three-time State qualifier.

“Last year he caught me in a dual and I wasn’t going to let that happen ever again. I was watching the whole tournament because I knew he was going to be most likely who I’d face in the finals.”

“He was wrestling really defensive through the tournament so I knew I was going to face a true heavyweight match where it’s just a lot of bear-hugging,” said Harris.

“First period that’s what we did, we just bear hugged the entire time, just working for position, fighting each other’s hands. And then going into the second (period), I got lucky and won the toss…escaped to a reversal, rode him out for the rest of the second.”

In the third period Ritter selected neutral but Harris successfully fended off the Spartan’s attacks to earn his first tournament title of the season after a pair of runner-up finishes at Enid and Jenks. He improved to 25-2 on the season with his second career victory.

“I’ve been in the Bobby Lyons tournament every year of high school and haven’t ever won it,” said Harris. “I’ve placed once or twice. It feels good winning our home tournament in the actual Dubie. It’s a good win to have for your senior season.”

Emphasis on “in the actual Dubie” because the tournament rotates annually with Sapulpa, where it’s called the Jerry Billings Invitational in odd-numbered years.

Allen, Texas won the tournament for the second time in the past three years, taking the trophy back from defending champion Bixby. Allen scored 368.5 points with eight finalists and three champions while Bixby had 327.5 points with three finalists and two champions.

Harris’s victory in the final match of the day helped Sand Springs to tie Garden City, Kansas at 308 points. It was the best finish for the Sandites at their home tournament since 2018.

“We were coming off the District Champ high,” said head coach Ty Bowling. “I think we started a little slow but overall I thought we wrestled really well.”

Co-host Sapulpa placed 8th for its best finish since 2021, but trailed rival Sand Springs for the 12th consecutive year.

Harris was the only finalist for the Sandites, but David Ritchey, Isaac Sensintaffar, Brody Ensten, Zander Grigsby, and Jaxon Trotter all advanced to the consolation finals.

“We had a real strong consolation semi,” said Bowling. “I think we only lost one match there. We had a good finish to the day.”

Ritchey (9-4) placed third at 120 with his only loss coming to tournament champion Bryson Humphries, from Owasso, in the semifinals. In the placement round he won 6-0 against Missouri State qualifier Paxton Martin.

Sensintaffar (15-6) placed third at 150, winning six matches in a row after dropping his first match 5-4 to Bixby’s Rhys Novosad. He won an 11-3 rematch with Novosad in consolation and pinned Collinsville’s Cable Golden in the placement round.

Zander Grigsby (24-1) saw his undefeated start to the season come to an end in the 165-pound semifinals in a 3-1 decision to Brady Benham, a three-time State Champion from Sperry.

“We knew who he was, we just didn’t know much about him just because we never see Sperry,” said Bowling. “If we had known more going into it we would have had a better game plan, but he wrestled really well, made one minor mistake and that kid was able to capitalize on it.”

“But I think (Grigsby) wrestled solid and I think we could get him if we wrestled him again.”

He bounced back handily with a pair of pins in consolation for third place, taking down Prosper’s Jack Ringger for third place.

Jaxon Trotter (24-6) pinned his first two opponents before falling to State Champion Jayden Moore from Tahlequah in the 175-pound semifinals. In consolation he won a pair of major decisions, taking down Bixby State qualifier Colton Kaiser 9-1 for third place.

Ensten (20-8) placed fourth at 157, winning his first two matches before falling to top-seeded Texas State qualifier Carter Nekvapil in the semifinals. In consolation he won a 15-9 upset over four-seed Isaac Colon-Arce before falling 3-1 to Sapulpa State qualifier Blake Hurt.

Peyton Callis (25-7) placed fifth at 190, Hunter Spencer (4-4) placed fifth at 126, and Kase Skaggs (20-6) placed sixth at 120.

No. 5 Sand Springs (10-0) will look to wrap up a perfect regular season when it travels to No. 3 Broken Arrow (7-0) Thursday at 6:00 p.m.

“That has seeding implications for Dual State,” said Bowling. “If we can find a way to beat Broken Arrow, we would probably be the three seed. If not, we’ll probably be at four or five. Broken Arrow’s a traditionally tough wrestling squad so we’re going to have to have all our guys show up mentally prepared.”

Sand Springs will also compete in the one-day Skiatook Tournament on Friday with both its varsity and JV squads.

Oklahoma 6A Week 8 Basketball Rankings

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Girls

  1. Edmond North (9-0)

  2. Putnam City West (12-0)

  3. Putnam City North (13-3)

  4. Owasso (11-2)

  5. Edmond Memorial (10-1)

  6. Choctaw (11-0)

  7. Sand Springs (7-4)

  8. Bixby (8-4)

  9. Edmond Santa Fe (8-4)

  10. Broken Arrow (10-5)

  11. Mustang (9-4) +3

  12. Norman (7-5)

  13. Yukon (10-3)

  14. Norman North (5-5) -3

  15. Jenks (8-4)

Boys

  1. Edmond North (10-2)

  2. Owasso (11-2)

  3. Edmond Deer Creek (10-3) +2

  4. Union (10-2) +4

  5. Edmond Memorial (10-4) -2

  6. Broken Arrow (10-2)

  7. Choctaw (9-2)

  8. Piedmont (10-3) -4

  9. Moore (6-5) +2

  10. Westmoore (6-3) NR

  11. Norman (9-4) NR

  12. Jenks (9-3) NR

  13. Mustang (8-5)

  14. Norman North (7-6)

  15. Edmond Santa Fe (8-4) -5

Sandite Wrestling Routs Enid, Owasso & Union for District Championship

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Sand Springs is headed back to Dual State after winning its 19th overall District Championship Thursday night at the Ed Dubie Field House.

Sand Springs has now won back-to-back district titles under second-year head coach Ty Bowling, who has won five in a row including his days at Glenpool.

“I love Dual State,” said Bowling. “It’s an honor to be able to compete there. I’ve been on both sides. Having to stay home isn’t very fun. Having the opportunity to give ourselves a chance is special.”

The No. 5 ranked Sandites improved to 10-0 for the first time since 2017 after winning 77-6 against Enid (1-8), 46-18 against Owasso (1-7) and 53-16 against No. 15 Union (3-4).

“I think we all wrestled good, battled hard, and even if we lost, we did our job to not get pinned or whatever,” said junior middle-weight Preston Reyna.

The Sandites started off with a dominant win against Enid, jumping out to a 36-0 lead with six pins before the Plainsmen earned their one and only victory.

Dawsen Briscoe (6-5), Ayreson Reiss (4-3), David Ritchey (5-3), Colt Hood (10-6), Matthew Moore (16-7), and Jackson Burdge (1-2) all pinned their foes before Steven Brooks broke up the run by pinning Jesse Moore (13-4) at 144 pounds.

Reyna (15-4) got the home team back on track with a 17-1 technical fall in 4:44, followed by first period falls from Brody Ensten (17-6), Zander Grigsby (19-0), Jaxon Trotter (20-5), Peyton Callis (20-5), Jaden Allen (7-7), and Ryley Kester (2-0).

It was at least the 14th consecutive win against Enid in a streak dating back to before any of the current Sandites were alive.

Sand Springs got in an early hole against Owasso and trailed through the first eight matches before rallying to their third consecutive win over the Rams.

Dallas Thorpe pinned Reiss to open the dual and returning State placer Bryson Humphries won an 8-2 decision against Ritchey before Hood got the Sandites on the scoreboard with a 5-0 decision against Jaxon Truitt.

Matthew Moore picked up a big 7-5 decision against State qualifier Jaxson Humphries at 132, but Burdge suffered a pin by Ryder Seago and Jesse Moore lost a 6-2 decision to Mason Moore to make it 18-6.

Finally, Reyna kicked off an eight-match win streak with a close 4-3 decision over Derek Lockridge at 150. Lockridge scored a takedown in the opening period, but gave up a penalty point in the second and Reyna tied it with an escape in the the third before scoring a takedown.

“He was getting in his own head and I kind of felt that, so I just kept pushing it,” said Reyna.

“That was a good win,” said Bowling. “That kid was one match away from being a State qualifier last year. Preston was wrestling up to 150. Every time we’ve bumped him up to 150, he’s won every one of those matches so he’s done well for us.”

Ensten followed it up by pinning Kam Miller on a second period reversal and Grigsby gave his team their first lead with a 46-second pin of Corbin Smith.

Trotter pinned Ari Davis in 48 seconds, Callis received a forfeit, and Allen won a 6-0 decision against Chris Turner at 215 to clinch the dual.

Mason Harris (20-2) had the fastest pin of the night in just 29 seconds against Alijah Hills and Briscoe wrapped it up with a 13-5 major decision against Chace Hill.

In the Union dual Kase Skaggs (17-3) started things off with a bang, working up a 17-2 first-period technical fall against Jaraett Sims, then Hood pinned Ben Mielcarek to make sure the Sandites never trailed.

Matthew Moore lost a close 1-0 decision to State qualifier Dariuz Black and Burdge was pinned by State qualifier Thomas Toteh to make it 11-9, but Sand Springs won the next five matches.

Jesse Moore kicked off the streak with a pin of Asher Davidson and Reyna won a 2-1 decision against Reyon Williams.

“Those last two were tough kids,” said Reyna. “I can’t wait to wrestle them again. I love matches that are close like that.”

Ensten added a 7-3 decision against Uriah Delonia and Grigsby continued his undefeated season by working up an 7-1 lead against State qualifier Tanner Jarvis before pinning him in 2:33.

Trotter also played with his food before eating it, taking an 11-2 advantage against Ethan Kimrey before pinning him in 2:48 to make it 35-9.

State qualifier Wura Yinusa won a 17-5 major decision against Allen at 190, but Callis pinned Ezequiel Palos to clinch the dual at 215.

Harris added a 35-second pin of Contrell Richardson and Briscoe pinned Mason Mitchell in 2:23 for a 40-point advantage before Derrick Elmore won an 11-6 decision against Nathan Feather (0-1) to wrap up the night.

It was the Sandites’ fourth consecutive win against Union.

Technically there are no All-District accolades in wrestling, but if there were they would go to Briscoe, Hood, Reyna, Ensten, Grigsby, Trotter, and Callis who all went 3-0 on the day. Harris went 2-0 and Kester and Skaggs both won the only matches they wrestled.

Sand Springs has just one dual left in the regular season and will travel to No. 3 Broken Arrow (4-0) next Thursday, but first it will host the 56th annual Bobby Lyons Invitational Friday and Saturday.

“We’ve wrestled a good schedule,” said Bowling. “Each time we’ve wrestled they get tougher and tougher and we’re going to finish with probably the toughest one yet with Broken Arrow next week.”

Sandites Win East Central Oklahoma Classic, Deke Thompson Named MVP

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The Charles Page High School boys’ basketball team won the East Central Oklahoma Classic last weekend in Ada for its first regular season tournament title since 2019. The Sandites have now won seven games in a row for their longest streak since 2020.

On Thursday the Sandites rolled to an 87-47 win against Hugo (5-9) for their third consecutive victory by 40 points or more with a season-best performance from three-point range, shooting 11-of-24.

Deke Thompson III scored a team-high 25 points with 8 rebounds, followed by Kooper Kelly with a season-high 16, and Kason Evans with 11 points and 9 boards.

On Friday the Sandites had to gut out a 50-46 win against 4A No. 10 McLain (11-3), dealing the Titans their first in-state loss of the season.

Thompson once again led the team, this time with 17 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists. Blake Johnson scored 14 and Evans added 10.

In Saturday’s finals the Sandites won 51-35 against host 4A No. 7 Ada (9-2), snapping the Cougars’ six-game win streak.

Thompson scored 16 points with 12 rebounds for his second double-double and ninth team-high of the season. Evans scored 15 points and Kelly added 10.

Thompson was named the MVP of the tournament and is averaging 20.4 points, 6.7 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 2.1 steals, and 2.1 blocks on the season.

Johnson and Evans were also named to the All-Tournament team. Johnson is averaging 7.6 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 1.8 assists, while Evans is averaging 10.7 points and 5.9 rebounds.

The Sandites had their Tuesday night district games U.S. Grant canceled on Tuesday due to weather and are scheduled to return to action Friday at Bartlesville (1-7, 1-4), weather permitting.

Zander Grigsby Leads Sandites to Jenks Tournament Title

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Sand Springs took home its 11th tournament title from the Larry Wilkey Invitational in Jenks on Saturday, furthering its lopsided reign as the most dominant team in the tournament’s 51-year history.

“If you want to win a tournament during the regular season, this is the one,” said second-year head coach Ty Bowling.

“This is kind of like a little pregionals, Regional preview. It’s a good win for our team, especially going into districts.”

The Sandites sent three to the finals and crowned one champion with 12 top-six placers. They scored 208 points to defeat Westmoore with 194 and Melissa, Texas with 192.

Zander Grigsby pinned all four of his opponents to win the 165 pounds bracket and remain undefeated on the season.

“I’m feeling good,” said Grigsby. “Winning Mid-America definitely helped my confidence and then winning this as well, I’m feeling great.”

Grigsby outscored his opponents 17-4 without giving up a single takedown and is now 16-0 in his senior campaign. In the quarterfinals he pinned Kansas State runner-up Brady Martin and in the finals he pinned Jenks junior Joshua Henderson.

“That was big,” said Bowling. “It was one of those tricky matches where if something could go wrong, that would be the match. We had a good talk with him, me and coach TeDon (Fleischman), to make sure he kept his mind right. He did exactly what he said he was going to do. It was a good experience for him to win this tournament.”

It was the third tournament title of Grigsby’s varsity career. In addition to the Enid tournament earlier this year, he also won the Cabot tournament during his sophomore campaign.

“I feel like the energy that we bring in the practice room has really changed everything,” said Grigsby. “The way that we go about practice, the way that we lift each other up, helps everybody to work harder, which is resulting in more success.”

Mason Harris (18-2) was runner-up at heavyweight after clawing his way back through the consolation bracket. The senior pinned his first three foes before falling 6-0 to two-time Sallisaw State Champion Maverick Williamson in the semifinals.

In consolation he pinned two more opponents to clinch third, then pinned Southmoore’s Jacob Clay in the second-place challenge match for his 100th career win.

“He’s tough,” said Bowling. “He’s a returning State placer, we’ve got big expectations for him this season.”

David Ritchey (4-2) took third place at 120 pounds, losing a close 6-4 sudden victory decision to Civic Memorial’s Bradley Ruckman in the finals before forfeiting the second-place challenge match.

“In the preseason he kind of tweaked his knee,” said Bowling. “He felt like he might be ready towards the end (of last year) but we decided to go ahead and give it another two weeks, Christmas break, and make sure we’re at 100 percent.”

The junior made his return to the mat in Thursday’s duals and entered the Jenks tournament as a non-scoring wrestler, while Kase Skaggs (16-3) placed fifth as the scoring wrestler in the same weight class.

Bowling made the decision to list Skaggs as the scoring wrestler “based on just what I know from a year and a half of getting to know the team and who is showing what, whether it’s in the room or on their own time, or on the mat out here.”

The Sandites were without a 113 wrestler as they sent both Ayreson Reiss (3-2) and Caden Rodriguez (1-3) to the Inola tournament with the JV team.

“They’re both kind of younger guys,” said Bowling. “We’re just trying to get them a few more matches and a little bit of confidence.”

“It was a possibility (that Ritchey or Skaggs might cut to 113) but I think now it’s probably off the table. We’ve got three duals this week, we’ve got our home tournament this weekend, so I think both of them will get plenty of matches this week and we’ll try to figure out what we’re going to do with them.”

Freshman Kasen McAffrey (8-1) was runner-up at 138 pounds, suffering his first loss of the season in the finals. He pinned his first four opponents before falling 6-0 to Westmoore senior Gannon Morales, who he actually defeated 7-4 in the dual just two days earlier.

“We have a returning (State) qualifier at that weight who’s a senior,” said Bowling.

“We asked McAffrey to step up and fill in for him over the past month and he’s done an excellent job. He’s someone’s who’s wrestled well and he’s looking to try and keep that spot. One of those situations where we’ve got all these matches this coming week and we’ll just see how that plays out.”

Dawsen Briscoe (3-5) placed sixth at 106, Colt Hood (7-6) placed sixth at 126, Matthew Moore (14-6) placed fourth at 132, Jesse Moore (12-2) placed fourth at 144, Brody Ensten (14-6) placed fifth at 157, Jaxon Trotter (17-5) placed sixth at 175, and Peyton Callis (17-5) placed fifth at 190.

The JV team took 14th place at the Inola tournament. Reiss took third palce at 113, Hunter Spencer placed fourth at 126, and Ryley Kester placed third at 285.

The wins over Westmoore in both dual and tournament action launched the Sandites to No. 5 in the 6A rankings released Monday.

Sand Springs will look to move to 10-0 in duals for the first time since 2017 when they host a district quad on Thursday at 2:00 p.m., followed by its home tournament over the weekend.

Laila Mirza Crowned Homecoming Queen, Lady Sandites split with Ponca City & Westmoore

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For the first time in Sandite history, the wrestling Homecoming queen was an actual wrestler. Laila Mirza was crowned in between a pair of victories as the Sandites hosted Westmoore and Ponca City on Thursday.

No. 9 ranked Sand Springs (4-2) won 42-36 against No. 13 Ponca City (0-4) before falling 54-30 to No. 6 Westmoore (3-0).

“We’ve been trying to take one dual at a time and handle Ponca City first, but we knew Westmoore was going to be tough,” said head girls coach Trent Cleveland.

“They battled us tough and ended up getting the better of us. We did have a couple of girls out of the lineup tonight. That probably played a factor but it is what it is, just got to roll with the punches.”

Sand Springs never trailed against the Wildcats, though the visitors tied things up twice and held close till the end.

Bailey Copeland took an 8-2 lead on Camila Bohon before pinning her at the 5:17 mark. Caryss Upton received a forfeit at 105 to take a 12-0 lead.

Ponca City tied things up with pins from Marli Arbona against Ambrielle Chambers and Toutie Bales against Trinity Owens.

Mirza responded by pinning Oakly Hunt and Gracie Gifford pinned Kaylie Thomas to make it 24-12, but Porscha Kreger pinned Audree Robinson and State placer Adisyn Ivers pinned Mia Bruns at 135 to tie it once again.

Kelsi Hilton gave her team its final lead by pinning Caitlin Cooper in 3:38, then Kayla Arnold and Tessa Urrey received forfeits to clinch the dual.

Fiona Schalk pinned Kadence Grant at 170 and the Wildcats received a forfeit at 190, but neither team had a heavyweight, resulting in a double forfeit.

In the second dual the Sandites never led but clawed back from a 24-0 deficit to keep things close before the Jaguars ran away with the final three weight classes.

Returning State qualifiers Kyrain and Krystan Perez pinned Copeland and Chambers, the Sandites forfeited 110, and Michaela Pinley pinned Owens to start the dual.

Mirza snapped the Jaguars’ streak by pinning Paula Galindo in just 42 seconds, then Gifford and Robinson received forfeits. The teams traded pins from there.

Zusette Arellano pinned Bruns at 135, Hilton pinned Ashlyn Hyde in 2:49, Izzy Galindo pinned Arnold, Urrey pinned Kaysie Gallope in 4:48, and Pearl Galindo pinned Grant to make it 42-30. Sand Springs forfeited 190 and 235.

Sand Springs came into the night with momentum, ranked the highest in school history after winning the Diamond State Invitational last weekend.

“We’re definitely coming off a high, going a state over and representing Oklahoma wrestling,” said Cleveland.

“It’s all kind of coming together at the right time. I couldn’t be luckier to have such a great coaching staff, support group, and wrestlers. The girls are really just coming out of the hallways just to try it out. We’ve officially got a full lineup.”

“It’s the first team title. There’s a lot of firsts going on this year and so now we’re really searching for that first State qualifier and that first State placer.”

Sand Springs also competed at the Supergirl 64 tournament at Union High School over the weekend, taking 15th place out of 46 schools.

Hilton took second place at 140 pounds, winning her pool with three pins. In the gold bracket she won two more pins, beating Bixby State qualifier Jay’la Ford in the semifinals before dropping a 5-1 decision to Yukon State qualifier Trysten Rittberger.

She was the only Lady Sandite to place in the loaded tournament.

“We try to give our girls a tough schedule so Regionals is not a shock when they go in there,” said Cleveland.