CPHS Roundup: Sandite Coach Josh Berry Joining Kansas Wesleyan Hall of Fame

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This story was originally written for the Sand Springs Leader.

Kansas Wesleyan University announced Wednesday that it would be inducting the 2006-2007 men’s basketball team into the Coyote Athletic Hall of Fame in October. 

Lady Sandite head coach Josh Berry was an All-Conference honorable mention on that team, which went 28-4 overall to set a school record and won the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference. 

Berry transferred to KCAC as a senior out of Sterling College and averaged 3.7 points, 3 assists, 2.5 rebounds, and 1.7 steals per game.

Now entering his fourth year, Berry holds a 50-21 record as the Sand Springs girls’ coach.

The Coyote Athletic Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be held October 22 during Homecoming week.

Journey Armstead Shines in All-State Hoops

One of the best to ever don the black and gold got to represent Sand Springs one last time Wednesday night at the OCA All-State basketball game.

Journey Armstead scored 18 points Wednesday night at the Sapulpa Chieftain Center but it wasn’t enough to secure the win as the West defeated the East 62-61.

Armstead led all scorers and added five rebounds and three assists. She will continue her career at Hutchinson Community College.

Junior High Fishing Duo Competes at Nationals

Sand Springs junior high students Drew Turner and Caden Strawn earned their way to the Bassmaster Junior Series National Championship at the Carroll County 1000-Acre Recreational Lake in Tennessee.

After placing third at the Oklahoma State Championship, the Sandites finished the season fifth in the nation. The duo turned in a haul of 16 pounds, 11 ounces.

Sandite Golfer Wins State Amateur Championship

Meghan Charles, a 2021 graduate of Charles Page High School and Oklahoma City University sophomore, won the Women’s Oklahoma Golf Association State Amateur Championship at Gaillardia Country Club in Oklahoma City.

Charles defeated Edmond’s Ashlynn Weir 4 and 3 in the President’s Flight semifinals, then beat Oklahoma City’s Drew Faires 3 and 2 in the finals.

Two CPHS Grads Sign College LOIs

Two more members of the Class of 2022 signed college letters of intent in recent weeks. 

High Jump State Champion Layne Kirkendoll signed with South Dakota State University, an NCAA Division I program that competes in the Summit League. The Jackrabbits placed third in their conference this past season.

Kirkendoll holds the all-time Sand Springs records in long jump and high jump, and also received college offers as a basketball star.

Gabe Glenn signed to play baseball at Allen Community College in Kansas. Glenn batted .433 for the Sandites this past season, scoring 37 runs and 45 RBI. Allen competes in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference and the NJCAA.

Sandites Selected for PBR Showcase

Several Sand Springs baseball players were selected to represent Oklahoma at the Prep Baseball Report (PBR) Junior Future Games showcase in Lakepoint, Georgia.

Alex Dudley and Jackson Turney were selected from the Class of 2026, Eli Buxton represented the Class of 2024, and Kayden Campbell was chosen from the Class of 2025. 

Lady Sandite Softball looking for new stars to lead team to new heights

This story was originally written for the Sand Springs Leader.

Countless athletes have left their mark on the Sandite Softball Complex in the 23 years since it opened, including 31 All-State players. 

As the Sandites get ready for the 2022 season, they’ll attempt to replace some of those stars while looking for new talent to elevate the program and add to the legacy.

Charles Page High School is coming off an 18-15 campaign and will have some big shoes to fill after graduating All-State selections Jolee McNally and Raegan Rector, as well as Lauren Hammock, Taylor Skipper, and All-State alternate Avery Tanner.

“They were just such a great group of seniors, all five of them,” said Shelli Brown, who is entering her 26th year as head coach.

“They provided leadership in different ways from being on the field to being vocal and talking to the kids and trying to keep them up.”

Despite that star-studded leadership, last year’s team came up a hair shy of making it to the State Tournament after falling to eventual State finalist Owasso at Regionals.

After a five-year streak of Regional Championships, the Sandites haven’t made it back to Hall of Fame Stadium since 2019.

“Anytime we don’t make it to the state tournament is disappointing,” Brown said. “That’s just our goal. It’s our expectation.”

“That’s what we work for year round is to get us in the best possible spot to get there and when you put in all that effort (and we had a great group of senior kids and I felt really bad for them because they had worked so hard). When you fall that short and you put in that much time and effort it just kind of lets you down a little bit because we didn’t get to where our goals were.”

As the Sandites look for new leadership to step up this year, Brown says it could even come from some of the underclassmen.

“I think it’s not only going to be leadership from my senior group, but I think we’re gonna have a couple kids in the junior group and one or two in the sophomore group that are going to step in and provide some of that leadership we’re going to need.”

“That whole sophomore group, they’re probably more my vocal group. I expect a lot from some of those sophomores.”

Mikenna Stephens, Ashlyn Clark, Addie Hughes, and Kenzie King all got good playing time last season and show a lot of promise.

“I’ll be interested to see how Addie will do on the mound,” said Brown. “She’s really worked hard in the offseason. She’s really been working on her spin and she’s had some success this summer.”

Hughes pitched 19 innings last season with a 1-1 record and 3.2 ERA behind Kelsi Hilton and Nataley Crawford.

Hilton went 10-6 with a 4.54 ERA and is expected to carry most of the weight this year. Crawford was 5-6 with a 4.23 ERA.

While the pitching staff is mostly intact, the batting lineup took some huge losses. Fortunately, the team will have an ace up their sleeve. 

After taking a break from softball last season, Jaden Jordan will be back for her senior year.

“That’s going to add some power to our lineup that we had lost,” said Brown. 

Jordan was an All-District first baseman as a sophomore and batted .436 with a team-best .734 slugging average. She hit four home runs and a grand slam that year.

Hilton is also expected to bring some heat at the plate after batting .413 last season. 

While the Sandites look to get back to the State tournament and beyond, they’ll be looking to their past for inspiration. Sand Springs has won 17 regional titles and has a long history of success.

“I think it makes a big difference and we try to promote that history in our complex,” said Brown. 

“We’ve got banners everywhere. All of our All-Staters are up on the wall. Every Regional tournament we’ve won is up on the wall. Every State tournament we’ve been to is up on the wall.”

“We talk about it all the time. Go around and look at these things. Look at the kids and what they’ve done. Look at the history.”

Sand Springs has a unique history in that most of the town’s accomplishments have come from native Sandites. While other 6A programs tend to get a lot of move-ins, Sand Springs benefits from an exceptional local youth program.

“Most of our kids have all been Sandites who grew up and played ball in the town that they live in. That’s kind of unique. I don’t know if that happens as much as it used to.”

Those Sandites continue to contribute to the program after graduation as well, as Brown’s staff frequently includes her former players. 

The Sandites kicked off the season with their first practice on July 18th and the biggest task for this young group of Sandites will simply be building team chemistry. 

“We’ve got a lot of kids that work really hard and love softball; we’ve just got to get the chemistry together. Over the last two years I’ve graduated twelve or so kids so we’re young in some spots.”

“You’re going to have some kids out of position when you graduate that many. You’re going to have kids in different spots and they’re going to have to get used to each other.”

“That’s kind of what we worked on in the spring. That’s one thing I love about spring ball is that I can focus on our defense and they can work on getting each other’s timing down. What are your strengths? What are our weaknesses? Work on base running and some of those things where there’s just not the pressure you have in fall ball with every game.”

Once that chemistry is established, the sky is the limit. 

“We just have to work on producing runs, playing good defense, continue to work on the mental game.”

“They know what kind of work it takes to get to where we want to go.”

American Heritage Bank to sponsor 2022 Highway 97 Rivalry footbal lgame

This story was originally written for the Sand Springs Leader.

One hundred years into one of Oklahoma’s most heated high school football rivalries, Sand Springs and Sapulpa are finally getting the respect their annual game deserves.

Players, coaches, and administrative officials from both schools came together Thursday afternoon at Sapulpa’s American Heritage Bank to announce a new partnership between the bank and the two school districts for the 2022 meeting.

“We missed a couple of years along the way, but this coming season will be the 96th edition of the rivalry,” said Sapulpa Athletic Director Michael Rose. “We’re going to see who comes out to take the lead.”

The American Heritage Bank Highway 97 Rivalry game will kick off August 26th at 7:00 p.m. at Sapulpa’s George F. Collins Stadium and will be broadcast state-wide on Cox Yurview.

“We’re very excited about this,” said Rose. “We’re thankful for American Heritage Bank and their partnership.”

“Having someone back us like American Heritage Bank is awesome. It shows the importance of the rivalry. It shows the history of the rivalry. It just shows how big it really is, being the third-longest standing rivalry in the state of Oklahoma. I think it was due.”

“American Heritage Bank is a longtime sponsor of both of our programs,” said Sand Springs Athletic Director Rod Sitton.

“We came up with the idea about a year ago to start putting this together, and we approached them to see if they would be interested in naming rights. We talked to (American Heritage Marketing Director) Tami Fleak and they just jumped on it.”

The naming rights sponsorship is currently only a one-year deal, but Sitton says he hopes that the partnership will continue in the future.

The Sapulpa-based bank purchased a brand new traveling trophy for the rivalry, only two years after the first-ever trophy was introduced. Sand Springs will be keeping the previous trophy after winning a 53-26 meeting last year, but Sapulpa players were quick to quip that they would be taking home the new trophy.

The bank will also be making donations to both athletic programs prior to the season-opening zero-week game next month. 

“This is one of our marquee games of the season,” said third-year Sandite coach Bobby Klinck. “It’s a big game for our community and it’s a big game for our players.”

“It’s a great way to tie our two communities together,” said second-year Sapulpa coach Tim Holt Jr. 

“We all know what this rivalry is all about, and it’s something that both sides talk about all the time. So we’d like to embrace that and tie the two communities together the best that we can.”

The history of the game dates back to a warm September evening in 1922 when Sapulpa football coach Virgil Jones led his Chieftains to a 36-0 shutout win, but he couldn’t have known then what a historic occasion it would come to be.

Sapulpa and Sand Springs have met every year since 1930 and Sapulpa has led the rivalry since 1945. Sand Springs, however, has won seven of the last eight, including both games under coach Klinck.

Both teams are looking to capitalize on a season-opening win as they look to build on last season’s success. The Sandites went 8-4 last year in Class 6A-II, while Sapulpa went 6-5 in 5A.

The trash talk began before the conference had even officially begun, as Klinck quipped at Holt that the “classier” Sandites had arrived in blue jeans and boots instead of athletic shorts, like the Chieftain players. 

Members of the bank wore shirts representing the two teams and one media member in attendance cracked jokes about the Sandite mascot. For the record, it’s a Minuteman, not a sand flea. 

Sand Springs senior linebacker Drake Fain predicted a final score of 62-7, which will almost certainly put some fire in the veins of any Sapulpa players who read this story. 

“We’ve hated that town and they’ve hated us,” said Fain. “That’s just how it is.”

“My dad told me that Sapulpa is the worst town and school in the state. I believe it and I will forever say that.”

Of course, all the smack talk is good natured, and the two communities are closer than either side will admit.

“This is a game that both sides want to win extremely badly just because we’re so close together, and the kids know each other and the coaches know each other,” said Holt. 

“Coach Klinck and I have coached together (at Broken Arrow). We’ve known each other for a lot of years and we want it to be a great football game and great for both communities at the same time.”

“Everybody loves football and the brand of football in northeast Oklahoma is unbelievable and it really helps put both teams on the map as far as exposure for the kids and all that stuff, playing on TV. It’s something that we always look forward to.”

Of course, there will be plenty of pressure on Holt to make up for last year’s loss. It’s a longstanding tradition in both communities to tell new coaches, “it doesn’t matter if you don’t win a single other game, you have to win Highway 97 Rivalry.”

As for American Heritage, the bank couldn’t be happier to be involved.

“It was a no-brainer for us to go ahead and pull together our resources inside the bank and work with these teams,” said Fleak. 

“You can see from my shirt where my loyalties lie, but there’s a lot of great people in both communities and we just want to support these kids.”

Her shirt was Chieftain blue, by the way. Now the bank will have its own in-house rivalry to contend with as they try to figure out who gets to sit in the suite during the game.

Girls Cross Country returns lots of experience, boys turn to underclassmen

While the starting lineup for the Sand Springs girls cross country team will look very familiar this season, the boys will be filled with new faces.

After placing 14th at last year’s Regional cross country meet, the Lady Sandites will be returning all but one member from their A team, while the boys will look to replace four members of last year’s 13th place lead card.

“We’ve got a young team, but we’ve got some talented young guys coming up,” said head coach Mike Burdge. “Last year we were coming back from the COVID stuff. We were a little shy in numbers, but we’re picking up a little bit this year.”

The girls will return Gracie Gifford, Lauren Foster, Madison Chambers, and Laila Mirza from last year’s Regional lineup, while the boys will return only Iyon Hood and Michael Johnson.

“We’ve got a couple of kids that are promising. I don’t know what we’ll see from them this year but through the next couple of years we’re going to be moving up so it looks pretty good.”

Taigh Wright and Rafael Huff will likely be immediate contributors after placing 13th and 19th respectively at last year’s junior high conference meet.

The girls will get a boost from freshman Maddyx Hampton, who finished in the top half of last year’s conference meet. “She’s a real solid runner, she’ll do good,” said Burdge. 

The Sandites started their speed camp this week, earlier than usual. In the past, Burdge has focused more on building his runners’ conditioning through August. He hopes the change will pay off this fall.

Adding numbers has been a recurring challenge for the program over the years as more and more athletes have begun to specialize in other sports.

Burdge has been trying to stress the conditioning and endurance benefits that cross country can bring to athletes’ primary sports with minimal risk of injury.

“I think we’ll be back on track next year. Back to where we were a couple of years ago on building the program. The middle school has been really picking up in numbers the last two years, so that’s going to start showing in the high school the next couple of years.”

Sandite Football looking for new leaders to step up in 2022 season

Senior linebacker Drake Fain is expected to have a big impact in the 2022 Sandite football season.

This story was originally written for the Sand Springs Leader.

For the first time since 2016, the Sand Springs quarterback won’t be named Pennington when the Sandites take to the field this fall. 

After five years of being guided by brothers Caden and Ty Pennington, the Sandites will have a new set of hands under center, and it won’t be those of last year’s backup, Brody Rutledge, either.

“We’re pretty close” to naming the starter, said third-year head coach Bobby Klinck. 

“Brody has done such a good job at wide receiver. We talked to him, talked to his dad, and that’s kind of the position that he feels comfortable at and the position that we feel he has the best shot at going to the next level. We’ve kind of let him concentrate on that.”

The talented receiver ended last season with 697 yards and six touchdowns, but he’ll be relying on a fresh set of hands to get him the ball this fall.

Right now, the battle is between a senior and a freshman.

6’2” 215-pound transfer Marek Matheson comes to Sand Springs with an impressive resume as a two-year starter at Kiefer, where he guided the Trojans to a 12-10 record, including their first winning season since 2015.

“He’s done a good job of getting to know the guys and understanding the culture and working out,” said Klinck. “He’s doing a good job in terms of meeting our expectations.”

Matheson put up prolific numbers as a sophomore, throwing for 2,713 yards and 30 touchdowns with 11 interceptions, while running for 208 yards and five scores.

As a junior he put up 1,213 passing yards and 13 touchdowns with only two interceptions, while running for 305 yards and 11 scores. 

His father, Mark Matheson, played four years at quarterback for the University of Tulsa from 1989 to 1992. 

Then there’s the freshman. It’s rare to see a freshman starter at the 6A level, but Easton Webb has a resume of success. The 6’4” multi-sport star led the eighth grade Sandites to an undefeated season last year and conquered the INFC’s top division in seventh grade.

“He’s got all the tools that you want a quarterback to have. Size, athletic ability. He’s got a great arm and a really good demeanor. The physical part - he’s more than capable. It’s just the processing, the decision making, and all that stuff.”

“You can see he’s getting better with each week, with each opportunity. He’s going to be a really good football player here at Sand Springs. We’re just going to challenge him and keep encouraging him, but there’s no doubt that he’s going to be an unbelievable football player.”

“We’ve split reps coming up here just to see if anyone’s going to take the lead,” said Klinck. “The guys have done a really good job of just competing and getting after it. We’re going to take the competition into fall camp and hopefully make a decision pretty quick.”

The two have gotten plenty of reps the last two weeks after competing at a passing camp at Sapulpa, and 7-on-7 tournaments at Bixby and Owasso. 

After winning last year’s silver bracket at the two-day Owasso tournament, the Sandites actually made it to the gold bracket this time around. 

“Kind of the evolution of how we’re doing,” said Klinck. “Seems to be that we’re improving.”

The passing game isn’t all that’s been improving. The team has also been investing in its linemen - sending two dozen players to a Bixby camp for the first time.

“Coach (Jason) Medrano and Coach (Kevin) Avey got a bunch of guys together and it’s an opportunity for those guys to get more work in. It’s kind of the evolution of our program.”

“I think we’re definitely headed in that direction” of being more physical up front, said Klinck. “Coach Medrano has done a good job of really building that culture of being a big, strong, nasty human being. It’s kind of fun to see that take shape.”

Klinck also expects sophomore Kenneth Page to have a big impact after rushing for 183 yards and a touchdown as a backup last season.

“He can be one of those breakout tailbacks. We feel that’s just going to add on to our linemen and make them feel more confident.”

Webb isn’t the only highly anticipated freshman joining the Sandite ranks. Hudson Sheppard is expected to get some minutes in relief of Page, and Ryley Kester has already earned a starting spot.

“Ryley Kester is going to end up starting at offensive line for us,” said Klinck. “With his physicality and demeanor and everything - just cemented himself in that offensive line. Then we go to team camp and as a freshman he’s just a man amongst boys. He’s definitely a tone setter and we’re very excited to get his career going here.”

Another name Klinck expects fans to hear more of this fall is Blaine Phillips. 

“He’s really stepped up. He’s always been a hard worker. Some opportunities came up and he stepped in and has done a really good job. He’s kind of worked himself in to where we’ve got no choice but to give him some playing time. He’s one of those program kids who you root for. He just works hard, he’s a good athlete and he’s finally kind of found his niche to get some playing time.”

Klinck is entering his third year at the helm after guiding Sand Springs to a 7-5 mark in 2020 and an 8-4 record last season. They made the 6A-II quarterfinals in his first season and the semifinals in 2021.

The 2022 season will open on August 26th at Sapulpa in the 96th installment of Highway 97 Rivalry. Last year the Sandites evened the record at 45-45-5 and will now look to take the lead for the first time since 1944.

Jolee McNally finds closure at All-State Softball game

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This story was originally written for the Sand Springs Leader.

For most of the girls at the OFPCA All State softball games, the exhibition match between the state’s best seniors was just the final game in their high school uniforms, but for Jolee McNally it was the final game of her career.

As the announcer read off name after name, almost all of them were signed to play at the next level, but due to issues with her back, the Sandite outfielder will spend the next few years at Tulsa Community College where there are no athletic programs.

“It’s heartbreaking, and it’s not by choice,” said McNally. “At least I got the closure I needed.”

She went out with a bang, going two-for-two at the plate with a pair of singles, two RBI, and scored the final run in a 10-7 loss for the Large School East while playing three innings in left and right field.

McNally wasn’t the only Sandite at Oklahoma Christian University’s Tom Heath Field Saturday. Reagan Rector also donned the black and gold one last time. She didn’t get a hit, but saw three innings of action at first base and one inning in right field.

Rector will continue her career alongside Avery Tanner, who was in the stands as an alternate, at Oklahoma Wesleyan University in Bartlesville.

Keaton Campbell added a few extra innings to his high school career at the OBCA All-State baseball game in Enid on Sunday, June 5th. 

The Cowley College-bound senior played third for the East team and recorded an assist and one put-out with no errors.

At the plate he was 1-of-4 with a triple off the outfield wall in the bottom of the third, and scored one run in the East’s 5-4 victory.

Ty Pennington was also selected for the All State team, but was unable to attend the game. He was also selected to the All-State football team alongside teammate Gabe Brown, but that game won’t be played till Friday, July 29th.

In soccer action, first-year Sandite head coach Cisco Chavez got to coach Karsen Lynch and the All-State East team in a 2-0 loss against the West Thursday night at Bishop Kelley High School. 

Lady Sandite basketball coach Josh Berry got to coach Journey Armstead one last time as the OGBCA East fell 72-55 to the West on Saturday, June 4th in Mustang.

Armstead didn’t score any points but collected a handful of steals and assists. She will also play in the Oklahoma Coaches Association All State Games later this summer, and will continue her career at Hutchinson Community College.

Fishing

Nathaniel Griffin and Jaxon Trotter took fifth place at the Oklahoma Bass Nation High School State Championship on Keystone Lake, Saturday, June 4th. The duo caught three fish weighing 8.13 pounds. They also placed 28th in the regular season.

Gabriel Castellano and Dallas Elifrits placed 26th at State with a 2.39 pound catch and were 57th in the regular season.

Mack Taylor and Parker Haling placed 28th at State with a 2.12 pound fish and finished third in the regular season standings.

Eli Rogers and Caden Shea didn’t fish the State Championship but placed fifth in the regular season. Cruz Norris and Gunnar Casey also didn’t fish at State but were 83rd in the regular season.

Caden Strawn and Drew Turner placed third in the youth division with a 2.79 pound catch, while Hayden Lowrence and Hunter Spencer placed fourth with a 1.94 pound fish.