The Charles Page High School varsity wrestling team traveled to the Kansas City Stampede this weekend and placed 28th for a slight improvement over the previous year’s finish. Though they didn’t crown a champion for the first time in five years, they did perform better as an overall team than last season.
Daton Fix won four-straight titles at the tournament from 2013 to 2016, then freshman Carter Young won the tournament last year. Young transferred to Stillwater this year and went 8-1 for fifth place in the tournament. His only loss was 5-2 to tournament runner-up Caleb Tanner of Collinsville.
Riley Weir placed sixth, Josh Fincannon placed eighth, Kaden Glass placed tenth, Brendon Wiseley placed twelfth, Chris Kirby placed thirteenth, Preston Medlin placed 22nd, Dylan Luker placed 28th, and Seth Jones placed 32nd. The team finished with 199 points. Last season they scored 188 points for 29th place.
This year’s team has outscored last year’s squad in both tournaments and two out of three duals. If that trend continues it will mean a great post-season for the Sandites, who finished third in the Regional and Class 6A State Championship tournaments last season.
Nationally ranked No. 12 Tuttle won the Stampede with 686 points, four finalists, and three champions. Liberty, Missouri placed second with 619.5 points and one champion, upsetting No. 22 Park Hill who settled for third with 449.5.
3A No. 1 Perry placed fifth and 5A No. 2 Collinsville placed twelfth as the top-two teams from Oklahoma. Sand Springs was the highest-scoring 6A team, followed by unranked Southmoore with an upset over several 6A teams at 29th. No. 11 Stillwater placed 30th. 5A No. 8 Coweta placed 31st, 6A No. 9 Ponca City placed 32nd, and 6A No. 4 Edmond North placed 37th.
Sand Springs wrestling will return to action after the new year at the 18th Annual Cushing Invitational. It will be their first time competing at the event. The Sandites previously traveled to the prestigious Geary Invitational that weekend for the past three years.
Riley Weir (7-4, 98-31) went 3-1 in pool play for a trip to the 120-pound gold bracket. He pinned Lebanon’s Cole Patten in 2:57, then took down Farmington’s Blake Cook 17-0 in only 2:17. Weir suffered a 6-4 loss to Platte County freshman Eli Rocha, but rebounded with a 24-second pin of Ponca City State Qualifier Shayden Trant.
Weir was pinned in 5:31 by three-time Texas State Champion Johnathon Ortegon (Randall) in his first match of the gold bracket, but worked his way up to the finals in consolation. He majored Mill Valley State Finalist Zach Keal 9-1, then avenged his loss to Rocha with a fall in 5:08. In the semis he pinned Missouri State Champion Karter Brink (Monett), but was defeated 2-0 by Park Hill freshman Kal Miller, a Missouri Junior High State Champion. Weir placed twelfth last season.
Josh Fincannon (8-7) lost his opening match by fall to Kansas State Qualifier Cade Lautt (St. James) but won out for a 3-1 finish in pool play. He decisioned Missouri State Qualifier Wesley Merriman (Monett) 4-1, Seckman’s Andrew Warren 8-6, and Stillwater’s Carson Cottril 3-0.
In the gold bracket Fincannon was pinned by Christian Brothers’ Al Wooten, but he received a forfeit from Edmond North’s Jake McCoy and decisioned Alabama State Qualifier Isaac McAdams (Thompson) 3-2. He then fell 5-1 to Kansas State Qualifier Ethan Kremer (Mill Valley) and 4-3 to Missouri State Qualifier Zane Persinger (Neosho).
Kaden Glass (7-4) was pinned by Tuttle State Champion Carson Berryhill in the opening match, and Berryhill would go on to win the tournament. Glass bounced back from his first career loss handily, setting the school record for quickest pin at the 195-pound weight class with a fall against Park Hill’s Christopher Bizzle in only fifteen seconds. He also pinned Goddard’s JD Birdwell in 0:43.
In the gold bracket Glass suffered a 4-2 loss to Missouri State Champion Brian Boyd of Smithville, but defeated Alabama State Qualifier Alex Ward (Thompson) 14-8. He trailed Lebanon’s Landen Smith 10-1 before injury defaulting, then pinned Kearney’s Colt Post in 0:58 before falling 3-2 to Missouri State Qualifier Blake Fritz of Seckman.
Brendon Wiseley (10-7, 24-15) went 3-1 in pool play to earn his way into the 106-pound gold bracket. He scored technical falls of 16-0 and 18-2 against Edmond North’s Garrett McBride and Tyler Bierman of Holt, Missouri, and pinned Omaha Skutt freshman and Nebraska Junior High State Champion Zach Ourada in 1:19. His only loss was a 3-1 sudden-victory overtime decision to Kearney, Nebraska’s Eli Ashcroft.
In the gold bracket Wiseley lost his opening match 7-3 to Liberty freshman Easton Hilton, a Missouri Junior High State Champion, but rebounded with a 7-0 decision against Thompson freshman Yanni Vines, an Alabama Middle School Champion. He suffered a 9-4 overtime decision to Perry State Qualifier Gabe Valencia, then was pinned by Missouri Middle School State Champion Jason Shaw and Whitfield freshman Evan Binder. He led Binder 8-0 in the third period with two sets of nearfall points before being pinned and settling for twelfth place. He placed fifteenth last season.
Chris Kirby (11-5, 33-15) went 3-1 in pool play, recording three straight falls after suffering an 18-3 loss to Missouri State Qualifier Drake Smith (Liberty). He pinned Seckman freshman Dylan Carlton in 2:10, Edmond North’s Jayden Villalobos in 0:58, and Kansas State Qualifier Nolan Craine (Goddard) in a career-best fifteen seconds.
Kirby lost his first two matches in the gold bracket. He fell 10-3 to Missouri State Finalist Trevor Christian (Lebanon) and was pinned by Missouri State Qualifier Carter Goslee (Park Hill). In consolation he pinned Missouri State Qualifier Blake Ackerman in 1:39 and defeated Texas State Qualifier Moses Torres (Randall) 18-13 for thirteenth place at 152 pounds.
Preston Medlin (5-8) got his first wins of the season at 145 pounds, placing sixth in the silver bracket and 22nd overall. He lost his first match 10-4 to Missouri State Qualifier Anthony Chellew (Seckman), decisioned Zach Ervine (Liberty) 5-2, lost 14-1 to Kansas State Qualifier Caleb Atkins (Goddard), and won 9-2 against Nebraska State Qualifier Connor Drahota of Omaha Skutt.
In the silver bracket Medlin was pinned by Smokey Branch, but won three-straight matches to make his way to the consolation finals. He defeated Josh Bahl (Monett) 10-6, pinned Elijahblu Rulz-Hernandez (Garden City) in 2:40, and defeated Southmoore’s Brock Cvasquez 9-5. In the finals he fell 15-4 to Texas State Qualifier Jared Gallegos (Randall).
Dylan Luker (4-4) went 2-2 in pool play at 113 pounds. He won two one-point decisions, 3-2 against Kamden Huneycutt (Goddard) and 10-9 against Grant Stathopoulos (Platte Co.), but fell 4-2 to Jonathan Erp (Red Oak) and was pinned by Perry State Champion Ryan Smith.
In the silver bracket Luker won an 11-4 decision over Southmoore’s Manuel Malina and was defeated 14-5 by Oak Park’s Brent Compton. He medical forfeited his remaining three matches and had to settle for twelfth place in Silver, or 28th overall.
Seth Jones (7-4, 29-18) pinned Mill Valley Kansas State Champion Carson Dulitz in 5:34, but fell 14-6 to Missouri State Qualifier Brandon Borlinghaus (Staley) and injury defaulted to nationally ranked No. 8 Kai Orine, a two-time Missouri State Champion and NC State-commit from Seckman. He forfeited his silver bracket matches and placed 32nd at 126 pounds.
Blake Jones (7-5) wrestled at 132 pounds and took losses to Missouri State Qualifier Kolton Sanders, Missouri State Finalist Wade Raeman, Collinsville State Qualifier Connor Henson, and Farmington freshman Drew Felker.
Joe Mattison (0-5) suffered four pins at 138 pounds. Riley Magee lost his first match at 182 and had to medical forfeit the remainder of the tournament. Sand Springs voided 160, 170, and 285.
