Ten members of the Charles Page High School wrestling team will head to the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds in Oklahoma City this Friday for the first rounds of the OSSAA 6A State Tournament. The Sandites are the defending State Champions, but will return only two of their previous year's State Qualifiers, and one of their five State Champions.
This year the OSSAA adopted a new round for the tournament, a wrestle-in match pitting the fifth-place wrestler from each region against the fourth-place finisher from the other side of the state. The loser of that match is eliminated. In past years, only the top-four finishers from each region advanced to the State tournament.
106-pound Carter Young (37-1) has had the most remarkable freshman season since Daton Fix’s varsity debut in 2014, losing only one match. That one match was a 4-2 overtime decision to nationally-ranked Ryan Miller from New Jersey’s Blair Academy. Young is thirteenth in FloWrestling’s latest rankings, riding a twenty-straight win streak.
Young will meet either Jason Gilbert or Shayden Trant in the first round of the tournament. He has yet to meet either this season. Next he will wrestle either Keegan Luton or Cooper Evans. He teched Luton 16-1 at Dual State and Cooper Evans 21-5 at the Westmoore Open.
On the other end of the bracket, Young has beaten Jared Hill 9-0 and pinned him twice this year. He also has a 19-5 major decision over Caleb Williams, and a pair of tech falls against David Boucher. He has yet to meet Brock Harris or West Champion Studd Morris.
Defending State Champion Riley Weir (26-7, 88-25) won the first of five Sandite State titles last year, helping the team to their first title since 1971. The 113 junior has battled injury this season but still managed to bring home three tournament titles.
In the first round he will take on either Caleb Nahmahpeah or Kristopher Humble, neither of which has he met before. Then he will take on either Nate Becker or Corwin Strachan. The last time he met Becker was the first round of last year’s tournament when he won 9-1. He has two decisions against Strachan, 7-0 and 4-0.
On the other end of the bracket is Tucker Owens, who Weir has split decisions with. At Dual State he suffered a 2-1 loss with an injury, but got payback at Regionals 4-0. Weir is 3-0 against Blazik Perez and 1-0 against Dominic Derr, but hasn’t met the jaguar since freshman year when he won 9-0. He has yet to meet Jake Wright or West Champion Jackson Oplotnik who is 30-5 this year.
120 sophomore Seth Jones (26-14, 28-17) will make his State debut against Garrett Johnson who he last met at the 2016 Perry Tournament of Champions in a 9-5 loss. From there he will take on either Laif Jones, Caron Watson, or Dillon Martin. The Sandite is 3-1 against Watson this year, losing their first match 8-5, but winning the last three. East Champion Laif Jones has recorded a pair of 5-0 decisions against the Sandite this season. He has yet to meet Martin.
On the opposite side of the bracket is Joseph Lupton, Andy Schlaepfer, Zeke Washington, Jacob Hodges, and West Champion Hudson Neeley. Jones has split decisions against Lupton and is 0-2 against Washington. He fell 4-2 at Regionals and 9-8 in a dual. He has yet to meet Hodges or Neeley.
126 senior Blake Sargent (12-7, 101-32) will make his third trip to State thanks to the new fifth-place wrestle-in. He placed third as a sophomore but failed to place last year. The Sandite has been battling injury all year and has seen little action, wrestling less than half as many matches as the previous two seasons.
If he can make it past Joseph Reynolds in their first meeting, he will take on East Champion Reece Witcraft, who he is 0-3 against this year with decisions of 7-4, 11-8, and 9-1. From there he will take on either Kyri Beasley or Cade Manion. Sargent fell to Beasley 4-2 in overtime at Regionals, and he has yet to meet Manion.
On the other side of the bracket are Branden Elrod, Ethan Martin, Cameron Picklo, Kylon Burgert, and West Champion Colt Newton. Sargent beat Elrod 4-3 this season, but fell 4-2 to Picklo. He has yet to meet Martin, Burgert, or Newton.
Junior Irwin Portillo (30-17, 36-22) qualified for the first time at 132 and will take on Trent Higginbotham in the first round. It will be their first meeting. From there he will take on Roarke Simpson, John Ritchey, or Dylan Schickram. He defeated Simpson 7-4 in 2016, he’s 3-0 with three decisions against Ritchey, and he’s 0-3 against Schickram with three losses by fall.
On the other end of the bracket is Blake Gonzalez, Ty Lutze, Brayden Strachan, Camden Evans, and West Champion Gabe Johnson. Portillo fell 5-2 to Gonzalez last month, has three losses by decision to Lutze, and defeated Strachan 5-3 at Regionals. He has yet to meet Evans or Johnson.
Junior Scott Patton (26-18, 33-20) qualified at 138 and will have to fend off Brett Pinkston to defend his spot in the bracket. The last time they met went to overtime and the Sandite won 9-7 in the first round at Geary. If he wins, he will take on West Champion Peter Rolle, who he last met in the second round at Geary. He lost that match 9-4. From there he will take on either Parker Wright or Spencer Schickram. He has yet to meet Wright, but lost an 11-4 decision to Schickram in January.
On the other side of the bracket are Ja’len Hernandez, Connor Holman, Baylor Smith, Bryce Petering, and Christian Webb. Hernandez has three decisions over Patton, two of which were by a single point. Holman won 11-4 at Perry. Smith has one decision and two majors on Patton. Patton has defeated Webb by decision and pin, but has not yet met Petering.
Sophomore Chris Kirby (20-8) will take on Anthony DesVigne for the first time at 145, then will wrestle Chandler Holman, Austin Daniels, or West Champion Jaxen Gilmore. He hasn’t wrestled Holman or Gilmore, and has split wins with Daniels. Daniels won 16-0 in a dual last month, but Kirby got payback with a pin at Regionals.
On the other side of the bracket is Micah Lugafet, Hunter Skaggs, Ryan Swanson, Blake Ramos, and East Champion Tate Picklo. He pinned Skaggs at the Bobby Lyons Invitational and has yet to meet Lugafet. He split wins with Ramos, pinning the Redskin in a dual, but falling 14-3 at the Bobby Lyons tournament. Picklo has a pair of wins over Kirby, a tech fall at Regionals, and a pin at Dual State.
Junior Kaleb Tabor (24-11) will take on Landis Scoon at 152 in their first meeting. Then he will wrestle Richie Lee, Ian Brown, or Kyle Knowles. Tabor has yet to meet Brown or Knowles, but holds a 6-3 decision over Lee.
On the other end of the bracket are Kruz Simons, Drake Vannoy, Joseph Sylvester, Bryce Corona, and East Champion Brady Mattioda. Tabor defeated Sylvester 3-0 at Dual State and fell 6-3 to Vannoy last month. He has yet to meet Simons or Corona, and has a pair of two-point losses to Mattioda.
Junior Dayvon Taylor (20-20) will wrestle in against Rene Martinez at 170, then will take on East Champion Bryce Mattioda if he wins. After Mattioda will be either J.T. Stambeck or Kaleb Mertz. Mattioda has three decisions over Taylor with an average score of 7-0. He has yet to meet Stambeck, and fell 7-6 to Mertz at Regionals.
On the other side of the bracket are Brannigan Reyes, Trey Bowman, Shane Flandermeyer, Austin Manley, and defending State Champion Zane Coleman. Taylor and Reyes split decisions this season. Reyes won 6-5 at Dual State, but Taylor won 10-7 at Regionals. Taylor pinned Manley in a dual, but has yet to meet Bowman, Flandermeyer, or Coleman.
Senior Gage Fain (20-8, 59-46) is making his first trip to State at 220, and will take on Blake Minnick in round one. He fell 9-3 to Minnick at the Kansas City Stampede in December. From there he will wrestle Griff Stanley, Jared Galli, or defending State Champion Zach Marcheselli. He has pinned Galli twice this season, was pinned by Marcheselli at Regionals, and has yet to meet Stanley.
On the opposite side of the bracket are Micah Walker, Marquon Journey, Kameron Linsenmeyer, Tony Opichka, and West Champion Mason Lancaster. He fell 3-1 to Walker at Geary, defeated Linsenmeyer 3-2 in an ultimate tie-breaker at Regionals, and has yet to meet the other three.
The State Tournament will kick off with wrestle-in matches at 9:30 a.m. on Friday. First-round matches will be held at 11:00 a.m., first-round consolations will be at 5:30 p.m., and the semifinals will begin at 7:45 p.m. On Saturday the consolation semifinals will begin at 10:30 a.m., the consolations finals will be at 12:45 p.m., and the finals will be at 5:45 p.m.
