By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief
There's 10 days left till the Charles Page varsity wrestling team kicks off the season with a big win over Owasso. This season Sand Springs took runner-up in the Fast Pitch softball State Championship, and is soon to beat the snot out of Bixby for a State Championship in football. Once the hubbub surrounding the gridiron quiets down, it'll be all eyes on the mat as Sand Springs returns one of the greatest squads in school history. Our Minutemen are currently ranked #25 in the nation by flowrestling.
For the next 10 days, we'll be counting down to the first dual and taking a look at our crowded roster of major talent.
Daton Fix
Daton Fix is not only the greatest wrestler in Sand Springs, Oklahoma, and the United States of America; he's also one of the best in the world. That's not my Sandite bias showing, he's got a bronze medal from Worlds and an Olympic silver medal to prove it.
As a freshman, Fix went a perfect 33-0 and claimed his first OSSAA state title with a 8-2 decision over Garrett Rowe of Choctaw. 8-2 is about as near to a close-call as it gets for Fix.
He continued that streak last season, taking first place in all six tournaments to finish 40-0 and claim a second OSSAA 6A State Championship, this time with an 11-3 major decision over Westmoore's Dalton Duffield at 120 lbs.
Fix comes from a big family of outstanding wrestlers. His grand-father, Alan Karstetter Sr. coached at Charles Page for 24 years and is a 2002-inductee to the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. Derek Fix, Daton's father, racked up a winning 33-21 record at Oklahoma State and was a head wrestling coach then a collegiate referee for years before coming to Charles Page as an assistant wrestling coach.
Fix's cousins, Jack and Cody Karstetter, are both Oklahoma State-placers. Jack is also a CPHS junior, and Cody is now a freshman at North Carolina where he has a 6-3 record this season and just placed runner-up in his second collegiate tournament.
In a family like that, some might have a hard time living up to the hype. Fix, however, doesn't worry about anything but who's up next.
The true gauge of Fix's potential lies outside the confines of Oklahoma high school kids.
Before he ever even set foot on the high school mat, Fix was already a 7-time national champion. From 2011-2013, he went 174-5 and only ever lost to nationally ranked opponents.
At the 2011 USAW Schoolboy Freestyle Duals, Fix was a leading member of Team Oklahoma when he was beaten 3-1 by Wisconsin's Hunter Marko. He quickly rebounded, however, beating Marko 6-3 and 6-0 in the next two matches. In that same tournament he was beaten 4-1 by Eric Hong of Pennsylvania, who he in turn defeated 4-2 and 3-0.
In 2012, Fix would suffer only one loss, a narrow 2-1 decision to Chad Red at the 2012 ASICS Folkstyle Nationals. Fix went on to take 2nd in the tournament. Three years later, Red is currently ranked #1 in the nation at 132 lbs.
In 2013, Fix had his first meeting with Pennsylvania's Spencer Lee, and suffered his only tech fall to-date. Lee is currently ranked #1 in the nation at 120. Later that year Fix would once again meet up with Eric Hong, and this time it was clear who the better wrestler was, as Fix deal him a 16-5 tech fall at the USAW Cadet Folkstyle Nationals. Fix claimed his first continental titles that year, taking gold in both freestyle and Greco at the Pan-American games in Colombia.
In 2014, Fix claimed his eighth national championship with a 4-2 overtime win against Utah's Taylor LaMont at the USAW Cadet Folkstyle Nationals. From there he joined team USA at the Cadet Pan-American Championships in Brazil where he claimed continental titles in both Freestyle and Greco. He racked up two more national championships at ASICS and USAW before traveling to Slovakia for the World Championships where he took 10th. At ASICS, he narrowly overcame Nick Suriano, the current #1 wrestler at 126 lbs, from New Jersey, in a 1-1 decision that Fix was awarded due to scoring the last point.
At the 2014 Youth Olympic games in Nanjing, China, Fix defeated Macedonian Elmedin Sejfulau and Yemenite Ebrahim Abdullah Ali Al-Shebami by tech fall, and South Africa's Reynhardt Louw 6-1 before falling in the final match to Mukhambet Kuatbek of Kazakhstan in a narrow 7-6 decision. Fix had to settle for silver, but he was that much closer to his long-term goal of becoming an Olympic gold-medalist.
Upon his return to the United States, Fix challenged Nick Suriano to a rematch at the Who's #1 event at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. Once again, the two were tied 1-1 as the third period expired. Unlike FILA, the Who's #1 event has no limit to overtime, setting up Fix and Suriano for an epic battle that lasted 32:12 into overtime and set the record for longest match ever recorded. It was Suriano that came out on top however, with a 3-1 sudden victory takedown.
2015 has been just as big of a year for the young stud. He claimed his 11th national title at the Flonationals Junior Folkstyle tournament in April where he once against narrowly overcame Taylor LaMont in the semi-finals. His final opponent was Yianni Diakomihalis, who is currently #3 at 132lbs. Diakomihalis overcame Fix 5-0 last year at the Super 32 tournament in Greensboro, NC, but this time Fix got the edge with a 3-1 OT decision.
He won a 12th national title at the ASICS/UWW Junior Freestyle Nationals with a 10-0 tech fall over Chicago's Stevan Micic. Then, at the Cadet Freestyle Nationals he went best-of-three against Spencer Lee. This time the #1 wrestler in the country was upset and Fix brought home a 13th national title with a 9-6 decision over the Pennsylvanian.
Fix, in turn, would be upset in his next matches at the Junior World Team Trials. In another best-of-three performance, this time Stevan Micic brought payback with 7-4 and 10-4 decisions bringing Fix's 69-straight win-streak to an end.
The losses were only a slight hiccup in otherwise incredible year.
After being upset by Micic, Fix recorded 12-straight tech falls. Six of them came at the Junior National Duals as Fix teamed up with recent CPHS graduates Cody Karstetter and Kyler Childers on Team Oklahoma to take a dual national title. The next six were at the USAW Junior Freestyle National Championships as he outscored opponents 66-5 to claim a fifteenth national title.
From there it was once again time to tread international waters.
At the Cadet World Championships in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Fix went 4-1 for a third place finish and his first World Championship bronze medal. He defeated Armenian Vazgen Tevanyan by 7-1 decision, then tech fell Georgia's Vano Godelashvili 12-0 in 2:47. In the quarterfinals he was narrowly defeated 3-2 by Russia's Abasgadzhi Magomedov, but he rebounded with a 10-0 tech fall against Moldova's Nicolai Grahmez in an incredible 1:46. In the third place match he had no difficulty overcoming Abbos Rakhmonov of Uzbekistan 17-2 in 3:34 to wrap up another incredible international performance.
Returning to America for the prestigious Super 32, Fix settled for 4th place after being defeated by Luke Karam and Vito Arujau, bringing his 2015 non-scholastic record to 68-5.
Needless to say, Fix is a sure-win for the 2016 State Championship, and will likely go undefeated this season as-well. He's the kind of guy who shoots for the stars and grabs the moon in the process. While most of the competitors in this state are aiming for state championships, his heart is set on the Olympics, and the rest of Sand Springs is there with him. Earlier this summer, a GoFundMe campaign raised more than $5000 to help send him across the world and local company Inkwell Printing sold Daton Fix t-shirts to help raise funds for him.
Titles
- 2011 Southern Plains Schoolboy Greco Regional Champion
- 2011 Southern Plains Schoolboy Freestyle Regional Champion
- 2011 ASICS/USAW Schoolboy Freestyle National Champion
- 2011 ASICS/USAW Schoolboy Greco National Champion
- 2012 ASICS/USAW Schoolboy Folkstyle National Runner-Up
- 2012 Southern Plains Schoolboy Greco Regional Champion
- 2012 Southern Plains Schoolboy Freestyle Regional Champion
- 2012 Northern Plains Schoolboy Freestyle Regional Champion
- 2012 ASICS/USAW Schoolboy Freestyle National Champion
- 2012 ASICS/USAW Schoolboy Greco National Champion
- 2012 Cliff Keen USAW Preseason Middle School National Champion
- 2013 USAOK Junior High Folkstyle Champion
- 2013 FILA Cadet Freestyle National Runner-Up
- 2013 Southern Plains Cadet Greco Regional Champion
- 2013 Southern Plains Cadet Freestyle Regional Champion
- 2013 USAW Cadet Greco National Champion
- 2013 USAW Cadet Freestyle National Champion
- 2013 Perry Tournament Champion
- 2013 Kansas City Stampede Champion
- 2014 Jay Hancock Invitational Champion
- 2014 OSSAA 6A East Regional Champion
- 2014 OSSAA 6A State Champion
- 2014 Cliff Keen USAW Cadet Folkstyle National Champion
- 2014 Cadet Freestyle Pan-American Champion
- 2014 Cadet Greco Pan-American Champion
- 2014 Oklahoma Cadet Freestyle State Champion
- 2014 Oklahoma Cadet Greco State Champion
- 2014 ASICS/FILA Cadet Freestyle National Champion
- 2014 Southern Plains Cadet Freestyle Regional Champion
- 2014 Southern Plains Cadet Greco Regional Champion
- 2014 USAW Junior Freestyle Duals National Champion (Team Oklahoma)
- 2014 Youth Olympics Freestyle Silver Medalist
- 2014 Super 32 Runner-Up
- 2014 Oklahoma Open Champion
- 2014 Perry Tournament Champion
- 2014 Kansas City Stampede Champion
- 2015 Jerry Billings Tournament Champion
- 2015 Jay Hancock Memorial Champion
- 2015 OSSAA 6A East Regional Champion
- 2015 OSSAA 6A State Champion
- 2015 Junior Folkstyle FloNationals Champion
- 2015 OKUSA Junior Freestyle National Team Qualifier
- 2015 Sand Springs Junior Greco Champion
- 2015 Sand Springs Junior Freestyle Champion
- 2015 UWW Junior Freestyle National Champion
- 2015 OKUSA Junior Freestyle State Champion
- 2015 UWW Cadet Freestyle National Champion
- 2015 Junior Freestyle National Dual Champion (Team Oklahoma)
- 2015 USAW Junior Freestyle National Champion
- 2015 Cadet World Championship Bronze Medalist
