Sand Springs Wrestling Team places 23 champions at Freestyle/Greco Tournament

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Clyde Boyd Middle School played host to the OKUSA Team Big Freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling Tournament Saturday. The tournament drew more than 145 contestants with well over a hundred coming from out of town.

Team Big is a mix of wrestlers from Sand Springs and the surrounding communities who train together year-round at the Charles Page High School wrestling room. Team Big photo galleries can be found at

https://sanditepride.smugmug.com/20152016-Wrestling/Team-Big-Freestyle-and-Greco-T

Grady Mittasch (4-0) placed first in Intermediate Freestyle at 65 pounds with a pair of tech falls: 10-0 against Jax Kiener and 12-2 against Logan Hargrove. He also placed first in Greco with a 20 second pin of Garret Salt and a 10-0 tech of Hargrove.

Balance Johnson (4-0) placed first in Intermediate Freestyle at 112 pounds with a pair of 10-0 tech falls over Easten Doshier. He also placed first in Greco with a pair of 10-0 and 13-2 tech falls against Doshier.

Carter Young (4-0) placed first in Schoolboy Freestyle at 84 pounds, defeating Cutter Sheets 12-5 in round one and teching him 10-0 in round two. He also took first in Greco with a pair of 10-3 and 10-2 decisions over Sheets.

Jacob Adams (4-0) placed first in Schoolboy Freestyle at 98 pounds with a pair of 10-0 tech falls over Noah Smith and Ej Tecson. He also won Greco with a pair of 10-0 and 12-0 tech falls over Jacob Burdette.

Cougar Anderson (4-0) placed first in Schoolboy Freestyle at 136 pounds with a 15-5 tech fall over Killian McGrew and a 3:18 pin of Blake Ramos. He also came in first in Greco with a 17-6 tech fall over Ramos and an 0:43 pin of McGrew.

Riley Magee (4-0) won Schoolboy Freestyle at 160 pounds with a pair of pins over Bryce Jackson in 1:25 and 0:24. He also won Greco with a pair of pins in 0:55 and 2:50 over Jackson.

Ethan White (3-0) placed first in Novice Freestyle at 105 pounds with a pair of 1:01 pins against Daris Mickle. He also placed first in Greco with a 0:45 pin of Andrew Mullin.

Blake Sargent (3-0) placed first in Cadet Freestyle at 132 pounds with three straight shutout tech falls. He defeated Morgan Morrow 11-0, Zach Myles 10-0, and Ricky Turner 10-0.

Draven Rathbun (3-0) won Cadet Freestyle at 160 pounds with  a pair of 10-0 tech falls over Atticus Aguilar and Bryce Burrdick. He also won Greco with a 5:43 pin of Burrdick. 

Owen Martin (2-0) placed first in Novice Freestyle at 65 pounds with an 11-1 tech fall against Clayton Giddens and a 14-4 tech of Dylan Abbott.

Jeran Seabolt (2-0) placed first in Cadet Freestyle at 145 with an 0:55 pin of Diego Maturino and an 0:21 pin of Ryan Stetler. 

Austin Johnson (2-0) won Cadet Freestyle at 152 pounds with a 14-4 tech fall and a 22-15 decision over Wyatt Moyers.

Michael Ritchey (2-0) placed first in Junior Freestyle at 126 pounds with a 10-0 tech fall over Sage Singleton and a 15-5 tech of Taywone McNack.

Daton Fix (2-0) placed first in Junior Freestyle at 132 pounds with a pair of 10-0 tech falls over Cody Wynn and Garrett Wild.

Kaden Gfeller (2-0) placed first in Junior Freestyle at 138 pounds with a pair of tech falls against Dillon Prutch at 11-0 and 10-0.

Sam Harris (6-1) placed third in Schoolboy Freestyle at 112 pounds with three tech fall wins and one loss by decision. He won his opening match against Garrett Wells 11-0, but dropped the next round 4-2 to Bryce Fisher. He rebounded quickly, however, with a pair of 10-0 techs over Blake Salt and Brayden Seago. He won Schoolboy Greco with an 0:27 pin of Jonathan Gatz, a 3-2 decision over Blake Salt, and a 10-0 tech fall against Brayden Seago.

Josh Taylor (5-1) placed third in Schoolboy Greco at 112 pounds with an 0:15 pin of Jonathan Gatz and a 4-2 decision over Blake Salt, but lost 6-0 to Brayden Seago. He won Freestyle, however, with three-straight 10-0 tech falls over Salt, Jacob Burdette, and Bryce Fisher.

Dariuz Black (4-1) placed first in Intermediate Greco with a 2:20 pin and 10-0 tech fall, both against Nation Johnson. He also came in third in Freestyle at 70 pounds. He lost his opening match 14-14 to Kason McGill, but teched Jake Killian and Jaxon Goddard 10-0 each. 

Payton Thomas (4-1) placed first in Novice Greco at 90 pounds with a 2:58 pin of Garrett Reese and a 0:50 pin of Zack Cooper. He also came in third in Freestyle. He lost his first match against Cameron Steed in a 11-0 tech fall, but rebounded with a 3:58 pin of Zack Cooper and a 14-2 tech of Abraham Flores.

Adrian Flores (3-1) won first place in Intermediate Greco at 87 pounds with a 3:34 pin of Aiven Robbins and a 10-0 tech of Gavin Salt. He also came in runner-up in Freestyle, pinning Salt in 1:42, but getting pinned himself in the finals in 1:21 by Robbins.

Braden Anderson (3-1) came in runner-up in Schoolboy Freestyle at 91 pounds, pinning Aidan Kirkland in 3:13, but getting teched 14-4 by Gabriel Fontanez. He also placed first in Greco with a pin over Kirkland and a close 7-6 decision over Buck Shell.

Joseph Jernegan (3-2) placed first in Novice Greco with a 0:28 pin of Jim Mullin, a 1:15 pin of Andrew Manly, and a 22-14 decision over Levi Smith. He also wrestled in Freestyle at 75 pounds but failed to place after falling in 1:52 to Levi Smith and giving up a decision to Mullin. 

Killian McGrew (3-2) placed third in Schoolboy Freestyle at 136 pounds. He won a 10-0 tech fall and an 0:29 pin against Preston Medlin, but dropped a 15-5 tech fall to Cougar Andersen. He also came in runner-up in Greco with a 1:36 pin of Blake Ramos, but was pinned in 0:43 by Andersen.

Christian Forbes (2-1) placed first in Schoolboy Freestyle at 70 pounds, winning two of three matches against Sam Smith. He lost the first round 5-0 but won the next 2-2 and the final 5-0. He also came in runner-up in Greco.

Bryce Fisher (2-1) came in runner-up in Schoolboy Freestyle at 112 pounds after defeating Brayden Seago 10-4 and Sam Harris 4-2, but falling by way of 10-0 tech fall to Josh Taylor.

Aidan Kirkland (2-3) placed fourth in Schoolboy Freestyle at 91 pounds. He defeated Adin Washbourne 12-10 but was pinned in 3:13 by Braden Anderson and went down 15-14 to Buck Shell. He also came in third in Greco with a 9-0 decision over Washbourne, but was pinned by Anderson.

Dian Fix (1-1) came in runner-up in Bantam Freestyle, wrestling at 55 pounds. He defeated Grayson Sellers 12-10 in a spectacular come-from-behind decision, but was defeated in a 10-0 tech fall by Gavin Wallace.

Mitchell Smith (1-1) came in runner-up in Novice Freestyle at 70 pounds, defeating Corban Dugelder 16-7, but giving up a 10-0 tech fall to Landyn Sommer. 

Wyatt Meredith (1-2) placed fourth in Novice Freestyle at 75 pounds. He was teched 15-4 by Eli Rodgers and 14-3 by Jim Mullin, and won a decision over Levi Smith.

Preston Medlin (1-2) placed fourth in Schoolboy Freestyle at 136 pounds. He lost his first match in a 10-0 tech fall to Killian McGrew. He received a forfeit from Tyler Rich, but was pinned by McGrew in the consolation finals in 0:29.

Cale Glover (1-2) placed fourth in Cadet Freestyle at 132 pounds, losing a close 10-9 decision to Ricky Turner and a 12-0 tech fall to Zach Myles, but won a 12-1 tech over Gavin Southern.

Sage Singleton (1-2) placed fourth in Junior Freestyle at 126 pounds with a 15-12 win over Karson Bellmard, a 10-0 tech fall loss to Michael Ritchey, and a close 30-27 decision to Brendan Clarke.

Clayton Giddens (1-3) came in runner-up in Novice Freestyle at 65 pounds after falling 11-1 to Owen Martin, but teching Dylan Abbot 12-0. He also came in second in Greco and was pinned in 1:37 and 3:57 by Corban Zugelder.

Nation Johnson (1-3) came in runner-up in Intermediate Freestyle at 70 pounds, defeating Jaxon Goddard by 20-6 tech fall, but falling 10-0 to Kason McGill. He also came in runner-up in Greco after being pinned in 2:20 and teched 10-0 by Dariuz Black. 

Daris Mickle (0-2) came in runner-up in Novice Freestyle at 105 pounds after giving up a pair of 1:01 pins to Ethan White.

Maranda Dornan (0-2) came in runner-up in Junior Freestyle at 170 pounds, getting pinned in 0:22 and 0:14 by Dylan Garcia.

Abraham Flores (0-4) placed fourth in Novice Freestyle at 90 pounds after giving up a pair of tech falls to Cameron Steed and Payton Thomas at 10-0 and 14-2, respectively. He also placed fourth in Greco after getting pinned in 1:20 by Zack Cooper and teched 12-0 by Garhett Reese.

Promised Johnson (0-4) placed third in Bantam Freestyle at 65 pounds after being pinned in 0:45 by Jake Wassom and teched 14-4 by Legend Ellis. He also placed third in Greco after being pinned in 0:32 by Wassom and 3:11 by Ellis.

Jacob Burdette (0-4) wrestled at 112 pounds in Schoolboy Freestyle and was teched 10-0 and 12-0 by Josh Taylor and Brayden Seago, respectively. He placed second in Greco after getting teched 10-0 and 12-0 by Jacob Adams.

Hunter Gines (0-4) competed at 120 pounds in Schoolboy Freestyle and lost 11-0 and 11-1 to Laif Jones and Blake Hickerson, respectively. He placed fourth in Greco with losses by pin of 0:50 and 2:41 to Auston Whitaker and Devin Graham, respectively.

Clayton Giddens and Bryce Fisher take first at Bixby Tournament

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Sand Springs sent three wrestlers to the recent Bixby USAOK Tournament earlier this month. 

Charles Page High School senior Sage Singleton placed 3rd in both Freestyle and Greco-Roman with an overall record of 3-2. Only four wrestlers competed in the 126 pound Junior division. In Freestyle, Brendan Clarke narrowly defeated Singleton by a 19-14 decision, but Singleton received a forfeit from Dalton Major in the consolation finals. In Greco Roman Singleton was pinned in 0:42 by Clarke, but defeated Major with back-to-back decisions of 8-3 and 18-12.

In Novice Greco-Roman, Clayton Giddens took first place with a trio of wins over Ethan Peterson of Sapulpa. He pinned his opponent twice, once in 1:08 and once in 1:36, and scored a 4-0 decision for the victory. He also placed first in Freestyle with a pair of pins over Camden Wicson in 1:44 and 1:29.

Bryce Fisher placed first in Novice Freestyle with a pair of pins at 120 pounds. He defeated Jayce Hitt in 0:59 and Luke Burdette in 0:57.

Carter Young takes first at Putnam City Freestyle Tournament

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Sand Springs middle-school student Carter Young is at it again, racking up a 3-1 record at the Putnam City Wrestling Tournament earlier this month. The two-time ASICS Kids Freestyle National Champion didn't have many opponents in the small tournament, but he sure had tough opponents.

First, he defeated two-time Division IV United States Junior Open Champion John Wiley of Mustang, Oklahoma by 10-0 tech fall. Then he defeated 2015 Division C US Junior Novice Champion and 2016 Brute Nationals Runner-Up Bradley Ballard 19-4 to take first place in Freestyle. 

In the Greco-Roman bracket he once again teched Ballard, this time 11-0. Unfortunately he had to forfeit to Wiley and settle for runner-up. With the exception of the one forfeit, Young is undefeated thus far in 2016 with twenty wins and six pins.

Sand Springs Wrestling Team qualifies four for Nationals

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The Charles Page High School wrestling team was well represented at the OK USA National Team Qualifier at Union this weekend, and four wrestlers qualified for Nationals this summer in Fargo, North Dakota. 

Junior three-time undefeated OSSAA State Champion Daton Fix wrestled at 126 pounds in Junior Freestyle and had no problem breezing through his opponents, teching Omar Pollard and Jet Taylor 10-0 each, and receiving a forfeit from Karson Bellmard for first place.

Junior Jack Karstetter, a 2016 State Runner-Up, wrestled at 132 pounds and placed second in Junior Freestyle with a 3-1 record. He defeated Gage Gomez by 10-0 tech fall, then narrowly edged out Westmoore's Dalton Duffield in an 11-11 tie breaker. Duffield went 41-4 this past high school season and came in runner-up to Fix at the State Championships. Karstetter picked up another tech fall with an 18-8 win over Billy Simpson in the semifinals. The final round pitted Karstetter against Garrett Rowe of Choctaw. Rowe went 40-5 last season and secured his second-consecutive State Championship. Karstetter battled hard but lost by 12-8 decision.

Junior State Placer Michael Ritchey also wrestled at 132 pounds but failed to place after giving up losses to Rowe and Duffield. He did defeat Vincent Eremita 8-7 and Jacob Reeves 14-4, however. 

Senior Sage Singleton competed at 120 pounds and gave up tech falls of 10-0 and 16-6 to Zachery Bibb and Jakob Lyons, respectively. 

In the Cadet division, Sophomore State Qualifier Blake Sargent placed third in 132 with a 4-1 record. He teched Spencer Schickram 10-0 and Kenneth Wolford 11-0 before giving up an 11-6 decision to Rodrick Mosley. In the consolation bracket he once again defeated Schickram, this time 17-6, then defeated Bobby Robinson 14-8 to secure his spot at Nationals.

Clyde Boyd Middle School student Caleb Phillips wrestled at 120 and went 2-2. He teched Josiah Holliday 12-0 and pinned Cayden Nelson in 31 seconds before falling to Zach Williams by 0:53 pin. Ryder Ramsey teched Phillips 10-0 to eliminate him from contention.

Sage Singleton also wrestled at 120 pounds in Junior Greco-Roman and placed third with a 1-2 record after teching Justin McHenry 16-5, getting pinned in 0:37 by Jakob Lyons, and forfeiting to Garrett Wild. 

Carter Young wins Jr. High State Championship, 3 other Sandites place in top 4

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Sand Springs sent four wrestlers to the 2016 Junior High All State Tournament in Oklahoma City last month and all four placed. 

Carter Young pinned his way through his first three opponents in the 6th & 7th Grade 80 pound bracket, taking down Brady Benham (Collinsville) in 0:28, Aiden Godbehere (Blackwell) in 1:00, and Cooper Evans (Bristow) in 2:34. In the semifinals he was pitted against Cotton Bowl National Champion Jordan Cullors of Collinsville and prevailed by way of 14-3 major decision. The championship match would be a lot closer and Young went into a sudden victory round with Blazik Perez of Broken Arrow, tied 6-6. The Sandite came out with the takedown, however, and claimed his second consecutive Junior High State Championship title.

Blake Jones competed at 92 pounds in the 6th & 7th Grade division and pinned Noah Ballard (Blackwell) in 2:43. He defeated his next opponent, Nathan Dekker, by 8-2 decision, but went down in the quarterfinals 10-2 to Bryce Dauphin of Tuttle. In the consolation bracket he pinned Grant Bunten (Owasso) in 3:45, then repeated his victory over Dekker by a narrow 2-0 decision. In the semifinal he edged out Shaun Muse 8-7, but lost in the finals to Jacob Wright of Southmoore by 2-0 ultimate tie-breaker and took 4th place. 

Seth Jones pinned his first two opponents in a combined 49 seconds. Competing at 101 pounds in the Junior High division, he took down Jacob Burdette (Bixby) in 0:24 and Alex Oquinn (Wagoner) in 0:25, then scored a 9-3 decision over David Boucher (Bartlesville) and a 4-0 decision over Ryder Ramsey (Tuttle). In the semifinals he was edged out 2-1 by Branden Elrod (Jenks) but he recovered in the consolation bracket with a 6-4 decision over Cade Waltman and a 5-2 decision over Luke Surber (Tuttle) for a third place finish. 

Irwin Portillo, who also saw action on the varsity mat this season, competed at 118 in the Junior High division. He pinned Gye Roedel (Kingfisher) in 1:13, then majored David Mendoza (Catoosa) 13-1. The next few matches were a lot closer as he edged out Timothy Trigg (Deer Creek) 3-2, then took down Josh Parks (Blanchard) 3-1 in a sudden victory round. His streak came to an end in the semifinals when he was pinned in 4:39 by freshman 6A State-Qualifier Spencer Schickram (Ponca City) who would go on to win the tournament. Portillo rebounded quickly with a 16-1 tech fall over Zack Mayes (Comanche), then defeated Roarke Simpson (Southmoore) by 7-4 decision for a third place finish.

2X Sandite of the Week: Daton Fix

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Story and photo by: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

This week Sandite Pride would like to recognize Charles Page High School junior Daton Fix as Sandite of the Week for his incredible performance at the Oklahoma 6A State Championship this weekend.

Fix finished his junior year with a 45-0 record, making it his third consecutive undefeated year. With a 115-0 record, Fix is a three-time 6A East Regional Champion, three-time 6A State Champion, three-time Kansas City Stampede Champion, and that's just his high school career.

In the quarterfinals he pinned Deer Creek's Bobby Robinson in 1:37. His next match was a lot closer as he prevailed by way of 15-3 major decision over Drew Wilson of Midwest City. A major decision is about as close as it gets for Fix, who has only won a single match this season by less 8 points. That one was a 5-3 win over nationally-ranked No.12 Requir Van Der Merwe of Blair Academy who just went 3-0 at FloNationals, helping his school to a National Championship.

In the State Finals, Fix got a rematch against fellow Fargo Champion Dalton Duffield of Westmoore. Duffield stood in the way of Fix's last State Championship as well and the Sandite prevailed 11-3 last year. This time it would be even more of a blowout as he teched Duffield 23-8 in 4:58. 

Fix is now only the second Sandite in town history to win three State Championships, following in the footsteps of David McGuire who won it from 1963-1965. 

Ranked third in the nation at 132 and eighth pound-for-pound, Fix is a four-time Southern Plains Regional Champion in both Freestyle and Greco-Roman. He won his first two National Championships in 2011 at the ASICS Freestyle and Greco tournaments. In 2012 he took Runner-Up at the ASICS Folkstyle Championship and defended his first two titles and added a Cliff Keen USAW Preseason National title. In 2013 he took Runner-Up at ASICS Freeestyle Nationals and won the USAW Cadet Freestyle and Greco Nationals.

In 2014 he won the USAW Folkstyle Championship, the Cadet Freestyle and Greco Pan-American Championships in Brazil, the ASICS Freestyle Championship, and was a member of the Team Oklahoma Dual Nationals team at the USAW Freestyles. He traveled to the World Freestyle Championship and took 10th place, then went to the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China where he won a Silver Medal. 

Last summer he won the Junior Folkstyle FloNationals, the UWW Junior Freestyle Nationals, the UWW Cadet & University Freestyle Nationals, the Junior Freestyle Dual Nationals as part of Team Oklahoma, the USAW Junior Freestyle Nationals, and claimed a Bronze Medal at the Cadet World Championship.

This is Fix's second time as Sandite of the Week. He is the son of Derek Fix, a CPHS assistant coach and former collegiate wrestler for Oklahoma State University, and the grandson of Alan Karstetter, the former long-time Head Coach for CPHS. His cousin Cody Karstetter wrestles for the University of North Carolina and fellow junior, cousin Jack Karstetter took Runner-Up at this year's State Championship.

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Sandite of the Week is a weekly recognition given to any one person with significant ties to the Sand Springs community who accomplishes remarkable achievements during the Sunday through Saturday week preceding the award. Prior achievements may be noted in the article, but do not bear direct influence on the selection committee which only considers prior week accomplishments. Candidates may be nominated by anyone by emailing SanditePrideNews@gmail.com. Bylaws prevent the giving of the award to anyone for two consecutive weeks, but any recipient may be nominated and awarded again in the future, so long as the weeks are not consecutive. Final selection is made by a majority vote of a three-person staff committee. 

Businesses or organizations seeking to sponsor the Sandite of the Week award may contact the above email for inquiries.