Sandite sophomore Riley Weir competes at prestigious Pennsylvania tournament

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Charles Page High School sophomore and State Qualifier Riley Weir traveled to Pennsylvania earlier this month for the Flowrestling Super 32 Tournament, one of the most prestigious events in the country. The rising star competed at 106 pounds against 121 competitors and finished with a 6-2 record with both losses coming to the came opponent. 

In the opening round he met Pennsylvania's Chase Stehman in a brief match that started and ended with a bang. Nine seconds into the first period Weir scored a two-point takedown and worked Stehman over for an 0:22 pin. 

Next to go down was Colorado's Dawson Collins. Once again it was Weir with the opening takedown fifteen seconds in. He scored two more takedowns and a pair of escapes in the match to secure an 8-2 decision.

Weir met his match in two-style All-American Lucas Byrd of Ohio. The USAW Cadet Greco-Roman National Runner-Up scored a pair of takedowns on Weir for a 5-1 lead before pinning him in 2:45, midway through the second period. 

In the consolations Weir took a 4-0 lead over Ohio's Blake Saito before pinning him in 4:26, shortly into the third period. From there he built a 5-1 lead on New Jersey's Kyle Kaiser before pinning him, also in 4:26. In the next round he secured his third straight pin in 0:34, scoring a takedown with nearfall points over Pennsylvania's Frankie Bonura before securing the fall. 

In the next round Weir met Doug Zapf of Pennsylvania in his closest win yet. He took an early 2-0 lead that he held till the third period, then built it up to 6-0 with a reversal for nearfall points. With 1:21 left in the match, Zapf escaped and took down the Sandite with 0:08 remaining, but Weir was able to hold on for the 6-3 decision. 

In the next round, Weir once again met Byrd, who had just lost to Elijah Varona in the quarterfinals. This time Byrd scored three takedowns for five nearfall points to build a 12-0 lead before giving up a point for unsportsmanlike conduct to end the match with a 12-1 major decision.

Byrd went on to win two more matches before falling 6-1 in the consolation finals to Brandon Kaylor for fourth place. Weir was just one round short of placement, essentially finishing in the top ten out of 121 wrestlers. 

Weir is now 31-18 for the year, and 20-10 since the high school season let out. He previously took fourth place in the USAW Junior Men's Freestyle Nationals in July. 

Sandite of the Week: Carter Young takes Gold at Pan-American Championship in Colombia

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Clyde Boyd Middle School Eighth Grade student Carter Young was selected as the Sandite Pride Sandite of the Week for his outstanding performance at the first annual Schoolboy Pan-American Championship this past weekend.

The young Sandite departed last week for Medellin, Colombia as a member of the Team USA schoolboy wrestling squad. He was one of only ten Americans selected to the team, which featured three Oklahomans.

Young went undefeated in the Freestyle competition, taking the Gold medal with four technical falls without giving up a single point. He was named the Outstanding Wrestler of the Tournament for his dominating performance. In Greco-Roman he came in Runner-Up after losing in the finals and took home a Silver medal. 

Earlier this summer he took first place at the ASICS Kids Freestyle National Championship and achieved All-American honors in both Freestyle and Greco for going undefeated in the Schoolboy National Duals on Team Oklahoma. 

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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. The award is not given to anyone in 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 the Sandite Pride Editorial Board.

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

Sand Springs senior Daton Fix defeats #2 wrestler in nation 8-2

Photo: Scott Emigh

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Charles Page High School senior and three-time undefeated Oklahoma State Champion Daton Fix made his third performance at the Flowrestling "Who's Number One?" showcase dual at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania this Sunday. 

The 132-pound senior attained the number one high school ranking in the nation earlier this summer after New Jersey State Champion Nick Suriano graduated. Fix had been ranked second to Suriano since losing 3-1 in 2014 at the event. That year the two wrestlers set the all-time record for longest recorded match in world history at the high school level, going more than 26 minutes into overtime.

By 2015, the Penn State commit had moved up to 132 pounds while Fix remained at 126 and earned the number one rank. That year he took on Illinois State Champion, FloNational Runner-Up No. 2 ranked Rudy Yates and defeated him 5-3. Not long after, Fix moved up to 132 and trailed Suriano till he graduated this past May. 

This year Fix battled it out with Iowa State commit Austin Gomez, a two-time Illinois State Champion, Fargo National Champion, and two-style Pan-American Cadet Champion. This was the fourth matchup between the two wrestlers this year. Fix defeated Gomez with a 10-0 tech fall at the United World of Wrestling Junior Freestyle Nationals, then dealt him back-to-back tech falls at the UWW Junior Freestyle World Team trials. The folkstyle bout was a lot closer, but still went to Fix by clear 8-2 decision. 

Fix was previously on a 68-straight winning streak before falling 2-1 to Mukhambet Kuatbek at the Spanish Grand Prix, a senior-level event in Madrid. He then dropped a 9-6 decision to Khasankhusein Badrudinov at the Junior World Championships in Macone, France before winning his next three matches to claim his second World Bronze Medal. His new winning streak is only up to 4-0 for now, but with the High School season right around the corner, you can expect the young stud to post some impressive numbers as he works toward being the only four-time State Champion in Sand Springs history.

4X Sandite of the Week: Daton Fix wins Bronze at World Championship

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Daton Fix still has a year left of high school, and he's already got more on his resume than most athletes ever will. The eighteen-year-old Charles Page High School senior has wrestled in eight countries and most recently claimed Bronze at the Junior World Championships in Macon, France. 

Fix is a three-time undefeated Oklahoma State Champion with a 118-0 high school record, but his dreams lay well beyond the confines of this state. Since winning State his junior year, he's also won the United World of Wrestling Junior Freestyle National Championship. He then competed with Team USA in the Beat The Streets: United In The Square exhibition match against Team Iran in Times Square, New York City. From there he won All-American status for the umpteenth time by going undefeated with Team Oklahoma at the Junior Dual Nationals. In July he competed in his first senior level event at the Spanish Grand Prix and lost by a single point to 2014 Youth Olympic Gold Medalist Mukhambet Kuatbek of Kazakhstan. 

At the Junior World Championships in France, he went 3-1 to win Bronze through repechage. In the opening round, he was dealt a 9-6 loss to eventual World Champion Khasankhusein Badrudinov of Russia. In repechage he scored back-to-back tech falls over Darthe Capellan of Canada and Mikyay Salim Naim of Bulgaria to earn his way into the placement match. There he defeated two-time Cadet World Champion Andriy Yatsenko of Ukraine 10-3 to earn his second World Championship Bronze Medal. 

Fix is currently 58-2 for 2016 and is undefeated in the U.S. The following is his national and international-level competition history. 

2011 ASICS/USAW Kids Freestyle Schoolboy National Champion
2011 ASICS/USAW Kids Greco Schoolboy National Champion
2012 ASICS/USAW Kids Folkstyle National Runner-Up
2012 ASICS/USAW Kids Freestyle Schoolboy National Champion
2012 ASICS/USAW Kids Greco Schoolboy National Champion
2012 Cliff Keen USAW Preseason National Middle School Champion
2013 FILA Cadet Nationals Freestyle Runner-Up
2013 USAW Cadet Greco National Champion
2013 USAW Cadet Freestyle National Champion
2014 Cliff Keen USAW Cadet Folkstyle National Champion
2014 Cadet Freestyle Pan-American Champion (Brazil)
2014 Cadet Greco-Roman Pan-American Champion (Brazil)
2014 ASICS/FILA Cadet Freestyle National Champion
2014 USAW Junior Freestyle Duals National Championship team-member
2014 Youth Olympic Games Freestyle Silver Medalist (Nanjing, China)
2015 Junior Folkstyle FloNationals Champion
2015 UWW Junior Freestyle National Champion
2015 UWW Cadet Freestyle National Champion
2015 Junior Freestyle Duals National Championship team-member
2015 USAW Junior Freestyle National Champion
2015 Cadet World Championship Bronze Medalist (Sarajevo, Bosnia)
2016 UWW Junior Freestyle National Champion
2016 Junior World Championship Bronze Medalist (Macone, France)

Other notable Sandite achievements this week include:

Junior running back Payton Scott ran the best game of his career Friday in a 45-41 loss at Choctaw. He picked up 239 yards on 39 carries for two touchdowns, including his fifteenth career touchdown. 

Senior quarterback Hunter Greathouse had his best passing game of his career, throwing 14-29-215-1 with 1 touchdown, putting him over 2000 career yards. 

Senior linebacker Delvin Jordan surpassed 250 total career tackles and 35 tackles for loss.

Senior Oklahoma State University-commit Sydney Pennington hit four home runs in three games and was six of eight from the plate. She also picked up a win from the mound against Ponca City.

Sophomore Aden Baughman, who qualified for State last year, placed sixth in the Broken Arrow 5K with a PR time of 17:01.40, shaving 05:12 off his previous best.

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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. The award is not given to anyone in 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 the Sandite Pride Editorial Board.

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

CPHS senior Daton Fix wins Bronze at World Championship in France

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Charles Page High School Senior and sixteen-time National Champion Daton Fix secured his second consecutive World Championship Bronze medal Sunday morning. The eighteen-year-old Pan-American Champion and undefeated High School wrestler left for Macon, France last Tuesday after spending time at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado.

The Junior Freestyle World Championship began Saturday and Fix lost his opening match in a 9-6 decision to 2014 Junior World Champion Khasankhusein Badrudinov of Russia. The match was tied 1-1 when Badrudinov got Fix in a headlock and rolled him three times. Fix retaliated with a takedown and a turn, but was unable to get the win.

Badrudinov won his next match 6-2 over Canada's Darthe Capellan and pulled Fix through in repechage. Fix dominated Capellan with a 10-0 tech fall and followed it up with another tech fall shutout of Mikyay Salim Naim of Bulgaria.

At 11:00 a.m. Central time Fix won his second Bronze medal with a 10-3 decision over Senior European Championship Runner-Up Andriy Yatsenko of Ukraine. Yatsenko won his first two matches by tech fall, including a 10-0 victory over Mukhambet Kuatbek of Kazakhstan, before falling 8-7 to Badrudinov. Kuatbek defeated Fix in the Junior Olympic finals in 2012 and again this summer at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Fix may not have beaten Kuatbek yet, but in a way he got the win Saturday by beating the man who beat him. Yatsenko is a two time Cadet World Champion, so the win marks quite the achievement for Fix. 

We haven't gotten word yet on what's next for Daton, but the young man still has his senior year of high school ahead of him where he looks to be the first four-time State Champion in Sand Springs history. The Sandites placed third in State and second in Dual State last season and have some impressive returning wrestlers for this year and some exciting young additions to the team, setting them up well for the season. 

Daton Fix competes for Bronze at World Championship in France

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Charles Page High School Senior and sixteen-time National Champion Daton Fix is wrestling for his second World Championship Bronze medal. The eighteen-year-old Pan-American Champion and undefeated High School wrestler left for Macon, France last Tuesday after spending time at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado. 

The Junior Freestyle World Championship began Saturday and Fix lost his opening match in a 9-6 decision to 2014 Junior World Champion Khasankhusein Badrudinov of Russia. The match was tied 1-1 when Badrudinov got Fix in a headlock and rolled him three times. Fix retaliated with a takedown and a turn, but was unable to get the win. 

Badrudinov won his next match 6-2 over Canada's Darthe Capellan and pulled Fix through in repechage. Fix dominated Capellan with a 10-0 tech fall and followed it up with another tech fall shutout of Mikyay Salim Naim of Bulgaria. 

Fix will compete at 11:00 a.m. Central time for his second Bronze medal against Senior European Championship Runner-Up Andriy Yatsenko of Ukraine. Yatsenko won his first two matches by tech fall, including a 10-0 victory over Mukhambet Kuatbek of Kazakhstan, before falling 827 to Badrudinov. Kuatbek defeated Fix in the Junior Olympic finals in 2012 and again this summer at the Spanish Grand Prix. 

The match will be streamed live at https://unitedworldwrestling.org/event/World-championship-8