Sandite Roundup: Shelli Brown celebrates 600th win in 25th season

25th-year Sandite Softball Head Coach Shelli Brown is presented with a commemorative ball for her 600th win by the Class of 2022 seniors.

A version of this story was originally published in the Sand Springs Leader.

Shelli Brown has been the head softball coach at Charles Page High School since before her current class of seniors was even born. In fact, she’s been the head coach since before some of her assistant coaches were born.

Now in her 25th season as a Sandite, Coach Brown is a pillar in the community. 

“Shelli’s an icon in women’s softball at the high school level,” says Sand Springs Athletic Director Rod Sitton. “She started her career here, hopefully she ends her career here. She’s not only a great coach, but a great leader and a great example for the young ladies that go through here. It’s been a real privilege to have her here and work with her, and also be her boss. She’s just a great person all around.”

On Tuesday, August 24th, the team celebrated Brown’s 600th career win in fast pitch. The milestone came in a 14-6 rout of Adair on Thursday, August 19th at the Rogers State festival in Claremore. They also beat Lincoln Christian 11-2 in the first game of the festival.

Owning a 603-326 record with 10 regional championships, two academic state championships, two district championships, and one conference championship, Brown has been one of the most successful coaches in school history in any sport. Under her guidance, 32 sandites have received All-State accolades and at least 60 have signed to play at the next level.

“It’s not about excellence just in softball itself, but it’s also about academic excellence,” added District Superintendent Sherry Durkee. “Personally, I’m super proud of the two academic state championships.” 

Prior to the Tuesday-night doubleheader against Enid, Brown’s senior class presented her with a commemorative game ball signed by the entire team, along with flowers and balloons. Then they gave her a 601st and 602nd win by drubbing the Pacers 20-3 and 3-1.

Raegan Rector went 3-for-3 at the plate with five RBI and two doubles in the first game, Mikenna Stephens was 3-of-4 with four RBI, and Kelsi Hilton was 3-of-4 with four runs. 

With temperatures nearing 100℉, the bats slowed down in game two, and the Sandites actually needed a fifth-inning comeback. Trailing 1-0, Taylor Skipper tied it up with a single to score Ashlyn Clark, then Skipper and Jolee McNally scored on an error for the lead.

Nataley Crawford pitched eight strikeouts and only three hits in the first game, and Hilton got the win in game two. 

The Sandites followed it up with a 12-4 district beatdown of Bartlesville on Thursday that saw Hilton go 3-of-4 at the plate with a triple, two runs, and four RBI, while also striking out four batters in four innings from the circle. Lauren Hammock was also 3-of-4 with three runs and two RBI.

Sandite Softball is now 5-3 on the season and will continue district action on the road with a Thursday game at Bixby (9-2, 5-0).

CPHS Volleyball

The Class 6A No. 13 ranked Sandite Volleyball team (7-4) suffered a 3-1 conference loss to No. 3 Broken Arrow (10-3) Tuesday, August 24th at the Ed Dubie Field House.

The Sandites lost sets of 25-15, 25-22, and 25-9, but stole the third set 25-20 for their first game win against the Tigers since 2018.

Payton Robbins scored nine kills with three blocks, 16 digs, and three aces in the loss. Layla Lenex had three kills and five blocks. Tehya Johnson had two kills, two aces, and 23 assists. Jacelyn Smith scored seven kills and two blocks. Charley Fahland had two aces and 17 digs, and Kasidy Holland had seven kills and three digs.

Sandite Volleyball will travel to Regent Prep Thursday at 6:30 p.m.

CPHS Cross Country

The Lady Sandite varsity cross country team placed 11th in a 5K run at Edmond Deer Creek, August 21st, led by Jazmin Lopez in fifth place out of 105 runners with a time of 23:13.98. 

The boys team didn’t have enough runners to place as a team, but Noah Hanlon finished in 26th with a time of 19:13.58.

The elementary girls placed third at Kiefer Saturday, August 28th. Chloe Grona won the one-mile run in 5:52.45, Josie Grona placed third in 6:19.71, and Sophie Grona placed 15th in 7:06.99.

CPHS Sports Roundup: Season Tickets on Sale for Fall Season

The fall sports season is quickly approaching for Charles Page High School and the Athletics Department is selling All Sports Season Passes Wednesday and Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the Ed Dubie Field House. Adult passes are $60, Senior Citizens (65+) are $40, Students (high school and below) are $25, and SSPS employees are $20. 

Reserved seats from last season can be renewed during those time slots as well, and remaining reserved seats will be opened to the public beginning Monday, August 16th. Reserved seats are $50 for the season. 

Both reserved seats and season passes will be available at Meet the Sandites, and season passes will be available at the first few home softball and volleyball games as well. 

Meet the Sandites will be held Thursday, August 19th at 7:00 p.m. at Memorial Stadium. Fans will be introduced to the high school and youth football, cheer, dance, cross country, volleyball, and softball teams to kick off the fall season.

Cheer

The Sandite Cheer program recently hosted the 2021 Youth Clinic and several up-and-coming stars were recognized. Lillie Holmes was named “Rockin Rookie,” Ray Bivin received the Showstopper award, Brighton Cole received the CPHS Coaches award, and Marley Dixon was named the Star Jumper. The 2nd Grade team received the Team Spirit Award, and the 3rd Grade team received the Team Stunt Award. 

Sandite Varsity Cheer is in its second year under Head Coach Krystal Chase. The team will be hosting their fifth annual Cheers & Gears Auto Show Saturday, August 21st at Charles Page High School. For more information, email CPHSvarsitycheer@gmail.com or visit cheersandgearsautoshow.org 

Dance

Addison “Addy” Lambert will be taking over as Varsity Head Coach of the Sandite Dance program this year, replacing Michelle Spears. Lambert is a CPHS alum and second-year Pre-K teacher at the Sand Springs Early Childhood Education Center. 

Fast-Pitch Softball

The Sandite fast-pitch softball team will host Sperry Thursday, August 12th at 5:30 p.m. at the Sandite Sports Complex at 408 West 55th Street. They will also compete at the Broken Arrow tournament this weekend with games against Tahlequah (Friday 10:00 a.m.), Broken Arrow (Friday 11:45 a.m.), Tahlequah Sequoyah (Friday 5:15 p.m.) and Union (Saturday 10:00 a.m.).

Fishing

The Sandite fishing team of Cruz Norris and Gunnar Casey competed at the 2021 Bassmaster High School National Championship in Dayton, Tennessee. The duo placed 99th out of 288 teams with five fish weighing 13 lbs 8 oz. 

Football

Sandite Football is entering its second season under Head Coach Bobby Klinck and the team hopes to repeat their prior year’s postseason appearance. The annual Black & Gold Scrimmage will be held Saturday, August 14th at 9:00 a.m. and the first game of the season will be August 27th at home against Sapulpa. 

Volleyball

Sandite Varsity Volleyball will travel to Collinsville Thursday at 4:00 p.m. before hosting their third annual Sandite Invitational Friday and Saturday. On Friday they will play Lawton at 9:00 a.m., Choctaw at 11:00 a.m., Enid at 2:00 p.m., and Bixby at 5:00 p.m. On Saturday they will play Southwest Covenant at 9:00 a.m., Lincoln Christian at 11:00 a.m., and Southeast at 2:00 p.m.

CPHS Cross Country Preview: Rebuilding Year in Store for Sandites

The beginning of the high school cross country season is less than a month away, and the Sandites are getting ready for action. 

“We started practicing right after track was over with and we’ve been practicing all summer, four days a week,” says Head Coach Mike Burdge. Both the boys and girls teams will kick off the season Saturday, August 21st at Edmond Deer Creek.

Despite only losing one senior from either team, it still has the makings of a rebuilding year due to a smaller-than-usual incoming freshman class.

“We’ve got to get more kids involved,” says Burdge. “Everybody’s got to work together and share athletes (across multiple sports). What do we do to get more kids involved? I think part of it is the elementary and middle school. I can remember when we didn’t have a high school program worth much, but Coach (Les) Reed was doing middle school and had 120 kids coming out for that. So how do we get back to that? I think Coach Reed’s personality had a lot to do with that success.”

The junior high programs have already seen a slight uptick over the last two seasons, however. “We’re really looking strong in our middle school,” says Burdge. “We’ve had 15 kids coming out all summer long, so we’ll be strong there.”

“I’m excited about our elementary, and the interest in elementary and middle school. I wouldn’t be surprised if we didn’t have 20 kids out for middle school whereas we only had six last year.”

As for this season...“We only lost one senior. Last year we didn’t have very many girls coming out for it so we were short. This year four of our varsity runners will be seniors so next year will be a challenge.”

“Dalton Wilcox will definitely be the number one senior leading not necessarily in time, but he’ll be one of the leaders. Jazmin Lopez is the only senior girl we have this year. Jazmin’s gonna be a leader. She’s a real hard worker, her and her brother Alex. I think we’ll probably be able to field a team of girls, we’ll have five. I asked around as we were going, I was talking to other coaches, and it seemed everybody was shallow on girls last year.”

“We’re really looking at ‘what do we do?’ Cross Country’s been strong for a lot of years and last year was just a tough year. We never had a race with five varsity boys, somebody was quarantined all year long.”

“So putting it all back together is what we have to figure out how to do. I’m going to have to get out and do some things to spur some interest. We haven’t been able to do that the last few years because of COVID. We’ll just see how it goes.”

“It’s gonna be a tough year ahead of us. Cross Country will be kind of a rebuilding year even though it shouldn’t be. Not having that many kids come out for the summer in the high school program, we’re gonna see what we’ve got.”

Last season the boys placed 11th at their home 6A Regional while the girls took 15th. The last time either team won a title was in 2017 when the boys won at Sapulpa, and both teams won the Kiefer Invitational in 2016. 

2021 Sand Springs Cross Country Schedule

8.21 Edmond Deer Creek
8.27 Owasso Relays
9.4 Sapulpa
9.18 Stillwater Jamboree
9.25 University of Kansas
10.9 4th Annual Gold Rush Invitational (Sand Springs)
10.23 Regionals (Owasso)
10.30 State (Edmond Santa Fe)

Sports Roundup: Layne Kirkendoll places second in State Championship Long Jump

Courtesy of Tommy Dial.

A version of this story was originally published in the Sand Springs Leader.

The Charles Page High School track and field team ended its season Saturday afternoon in Edmond, and three Sandites made the trip. 

Junior Layne Kirkendoll repeated her freshman performance in the Long Jump by finishing as Runner-Up. Her 18 ft. 1.75 in. jump was her third-best mark of the season. She also placed fifth in the High Jump with a height of 5 ft. 4 in. The top five jumpers all cleared the same height, but Kirkendoll took fifth on criteria. 

Senior Joseph Mattison signed a letter of intent to run for Coffeyville Community College last Tuesday, and at State he competed in two events. His 22.51-second 200-meter dash earned 10th place and his 20 ft. 1.5 in. long jump placed 11th. 

“JoJo (Mattison) is the definition of hard work and determination,” said Head Coach Tim Dial. “He is the type of kid that every coach wishes they had a team full of.”

Greg Reed also competed in the long jump and placed 16th at State with a distance of 14 ft. 11.25 in.

Baseball

Brock Swanson, Brycen Peterman, and Kaden Young all signed letters of intent to play at Oklahoma Wesleyan University next season. 

Basketball

Former Sandite Colt Savage signed to play at Cameron University after spending two seasons at the University of Central Oklahoma. “Colt is an extremely poised guy that brings our team a lot of versatility at the small forward position,” said CU Head Coach Andrew Brown. “He has great touch shooting on the perimeter along with a strong build to take advantage of size matchups. We are excited about how he fits in our system.” 

Marlo Fox signed a letter of intent to play at Rogers State University after decommitting from Seward County Community College.

Savage is the second-highest scoring player in Sand Springs history with 1,697 points, and Fox ranks sixth with 1,065.

Cheer

Claire Smith signed a letter of intent to cheer for the University of Central Arkansas Bears. 

Football

Zach Heinen signed a letter of intent to kick for Concordia University Wisconsin. The future Falcon was a perfect 32-of-32 kicking PATs this past season and 51-of-52 in his career, and he was 3-of-4 on field goals with a career long of 39 yards. 

Daren Hawkins signed to play at Abilene Christian University in Texas. Hawkins played three years at receiver and totaled 546 yards on 37 catches, with nine touchdowns before switching to defense. He totaled 22 tackles and one fumble recovery his senior year. 

Soccer

Xander Quiroga signed a letter of intent to play goalie at Murray State College in Tishomingo. Teagan Smith signed with Southwestern College in Kansas. Smith led her team in scoring this season with five goals.

Sports Roundup: Layne Kirkendoll and Greg Reed win Regional Championships

Courtesy of Tommy Dial.

A version of this story was originally published in the Sand Springs Leader.

The Charles Page High School baseball team ended the season 19-21 in their first full year under Head Coach Matt Brown, falling 6-4 in the Regional Championship against Bixby (28-12). They went 3-2 in their final week of the season and battled back through the losers’ bracket at Stillwater’s Couch Park to force a tie-breaker game against the Spartans.

Bixby rallied from a 5-0 deficit to win game one of the tournament on Thursday. Blake Nichols hit a three-run blast to tie it in the seventh, and the Spartans won on a walk off in the eighth. 

Carson Seabolt tossed five strikeouts as the Sandites rolled Booker T. Washington 11-3 in the next game, then Brycen Peterman pitched a 5-3 upset win against host Stillwater. Cason Savage went 3-for-3 at the plate with 2 RBI and a run as the Sandites earned a rematch with Bixby.

Wes Strand gave Bixby a 1-0 lead with a solo homer Friday evening, but the Spartans left nine runners stranded and Sand Springs scored four runs on five hits in the fifth. Keaton Campbell hit a two-run double for the final score and Jace Arnold got the win on the mound.

The Sandites out-hit the Spartans 9-7 in Saturday’s Championship game, but the Spartans blasted three homers in the 6-4 win. 

On Monday, May 3, the Sandites ended the regular season with a 6-4 win over Meeker after scoring three runs in the bottom of the sixth. 

Fishing

Three Sandite high school fishing teams qualified for the Oklahoma Bass Nation State Championship. Mack Taylor and Reese David, Cruz Norris and Gunnar Casey, and Kyle and Kale Hilligoss will all fish Lake Eufala on June 13th. Nate Griffin and Jaxon Trotter qualified for the junior high tournament on June 12th. 

Golf

The boys team ended their season with a 12th place finish at Regionals, while the girls qualified two to the State Championship. Meghan Charles shot 162 to tie for 16th while Alyx Edwards shot 240 for 73rd. 

Boys Regionals: Drew Paden 162, Mason Ward 164, Cole Hight 178, Cameron Villines 189, Seth Benton 191. Girls Regionals: Charles 74, Edwards 97, Gina Foster 108, Madison Chambers 117.

Soccer

The boys’ soccer team (8-8) ended their season in a 3-2 first-round playoff loss at Stillwater, Tuesday, May 4. Jack Bratcher and Cameron Summerton scored the Sandites’ two goals. Fernando Saldana ended the season as the team’s leading scorer with 15 goals, followed by Bratcher with 13 and Summerton with 6. 

Track and Field

Sand Springs crowned two Champions and qualified three athletes for State, Saturday at the 6A Regional Track Meet in Sapulpa. Greg Reed and Layne Kirkendoll both won Regional titles in the Long Jump, and Joseph Mattison also qualified in that event.

Kirkendoll remains undefeated in the long jump this year, leaping 17 ft. 11 in. to win her eighth gold medal in that event and her 13th overall. She also came in runner-up in the high jump with a mark of 5 ft. 2 in. 

Reed crushed his previous personal best with a leap of 21 ft. 4.5 in., which ranks eighth in school history. Mattison recorded a jump of 20 ft. 9 in. for third place, and he placed fourth in the 200-meter dash in 22.4 seconds. 

The boys’ 4x800 relay team placed fourth with a time of 8:56.5 and Jazmin Lopez placed fifth in the 800-meter run in 2:28.07.