Bailey Copeland paves the way for Sand Springs girls’ wrestling

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

Something special has been happening in the Oklahoma wrestling community. For the first time ever, the OSSAA is offering fully-sanctioned girls’ wrestling, opening the door to a sport that many girls have never even considered. One girl who is excited about the future of female wrestling is Bailey Copeland.

Copeland, a Sand Springs sixth grader, recently became the first-ever Lady Sandite to win a youth State Championship, and she did it twice. First she won the OKUSA title in January, then brought home the OKWA gold in February.

What makes her extra special? She’s only been wrestling for a few months. Initially her dad was skeptical of letting her wrestle, but he finally let her go to a few practices this fall to try it out. 

“She went to practice, then left there and went to play basketball,” said Josh Copeland. “She almost threw up twice, but she loved it. She wanted to wrestle.” Bailey quickly made the decision to drop basketball and pursue wrestling instead. She also plays softball in the spring.

“She’s a natural,” says Josh. “It’s just something you don’t see every day. She gives 100% in the room every night. She picks up things so quickly. I taught her a three-quarter stack at home and she went out and pinned somebody with it.”

Bailey comes from a large wrestling community. Her father, Josh, was a wrestler and MMA fighter. Her brother Kyler wrestled through elementary before focusing on baseball. Sand Springs as a town has seen more success in varsity wrestling than any other sport. 

She has been training with the Keystone Kids, the Sand Springs youth program, part time, but also with the Hurricane Wrestling Academy in Tulsa. At Hurricane she has other girls to train with, but in Sand Springs she’s the only girl in the room.

Charles Page High School has yet to put the wheels in motion on a girls’ varsity team, but discussions are happening. Broken Arrow became the first district in the state to do so, and many other schools have girls training and competing alongside the boys the same way they’ve been allowed to for years. Creating a girls program in Sand Springs would require approval from the Board of Education, and they would need to find space for a separate locker room for the girls. 

Bailey won’t be the first girl on the Sand Springs wrestling team. Just two years ago Hayli Jeffries won the Union preseason tournament as a sophomore. But she could be a member of the first all-girls team in Sand Springs, if other girls step up and continue to take interest in growing the sport.

Growing the sport is especially important to Bailey. “I want to try to get more girls to wrestle. If you think about wrestling, just go ahead and try it and see if you like it.” She looks up to Olympic gold medalist Helen Maroulis for inspiration, and her favorite part of wrestling is making boys cry.

Although competing at the high school level is already on her mind, for now Bailey has two more seasons of junior high wrestling to focus on. Next up for the young star will be the Reno Nationals April 15-18th at the Tulsa Convention Center.

For more information on Sand Springs youth wrestling, follow “Keystone Kids Wrestling Club” on Facebook or email jarrod.patterson@sandites.org to sign up. Freestyle and Greco-Roman practices will begin Thursday, March 25th at Charles Page High School.

Sandites send four wrestlers to state tournament

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OKLAHOMA CITY — Charles Page High School’s wrestling season ended with an 18th-place finish in the Class 6A State Tournament Saturday at Jim Norick Arena.

Mitchell Smith, Blake Jones, Brooks Dudley, and Mason Harris all qualified for state by placing in top-five at Regionals, where the Sandites finished eighth as a team. At the 6A-East Regional at Broken Arrow, Smith placed third at 132 pounds, Jones was third at 152, Dudley was third at 195, and Harris was fifth at 220. Ethan Norton took sixth at 138, but only the top five advance to state.

Click here to read the full story in the Sand Springs Leader.

Mitchell Smith qualifies for State Tournament

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This year’s high school wrestling postseason is a bit unorthodox due to COVID-19 and winter weather.

The Class 6A-East Regional, held last Saturday and Monday at Broken Arrow, were delayed more than a week due to the weather. And in those regionals, all the competition in seven weight classes was held on one day and the other seven on the second day — instead of all classes spread out over two days.

Click here to read the full story in the Sand Springs Leader.

Snow stalls Sand Springs sports schedules

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Ice, snow, and a week of sub-freezing temperatures have wreaked havoc with schools and extracurricular activities across Oklahoma. Sand Springs Public Schools lost four days of instruction before shifting to virtual learning, but unfortunately for the Sandites there is no way to play sports virtually.

Click here to read the full story in the Sand Springs Leader.

CPHS Wrestling: Sandites miss out on Dual State but roll Union 50-22 in season finale

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The Charles Page High School wrestling team wrapped up a disappointing dual season with a 4-6 record last week, but finished on a high note with a 50-22 drubbing of Class 6A No. 7 ranked Union (5-3).

The Sandites are unranked and will be missing from the Dual State tournament for the first time since 2015 after failing to win their district. They rolled to a 63-15 win against Muskogee (2-4) but split the matches 7-7 against Ponca City (3-0), who won 37-33 on bonus points.

The Sandites struggled with an unusually tough schedule this season in which they took on almost exclusively top-tier opponents. Their losses came to now-No. 5 Stillwater, No. 4 Bixby, No. 3 Edmond North, No. 2 Mustang, and 5A No. 1 Collinsville. Although Ponca City is unranked, that can primarily be attributed to a late start on the season, with only one dual prior to districts. The teams Sand Springs lost to have a combined record of 51-4.

Sapulpa (3-3), who hasn’t beaten the Sandites since 2013, canceled their district appearances due to COVID-19, and the Sandites also missed out on the Owasso Ram Duals where they usually pick up a handful of wins.

On the 19th the Sandites traveled to Mustang for a three-way meet against Mustang (18-2) and Edmond North (13-0). They were severely shorthanded and had to forfeit three weight classes in each dual.

Mitchell Smith, Blake Jones, and Sango Whitehorn all recorded pins in a 51-22 loss to Edmond North, and Brooks Dudley got a 14-0 major decision. Jones and Whitehorn also got pins against Mustang, while Shane Wolf and Smith earned decisions in the 54-24 loss.

In Tuesday’s dual against Muskogee they received five forfeits and went 6-3 in the remaining matches with pins from Harley Newberry, Ethan Norton, Chase White, Mason Harris, and Zander Grigsby.

The dual against Ponca was an even 7-7 split but the Wildcats earned five pins to the Sandites’ four. Four of Ponca’s falls came in the first six matches as the home team stormed out to a 24-6 lead. Blake Jones evened it up a bit with a pin at 160, but returning State Qualifiers Gabe Roland and Landon Newlin made it 34-12.

Whitehorn, Dudley, and Harris kept the team alive with three straight falls, but Chris Kiser clinched the Wildcat win with a 7-3 decision at 106 pounds. Wolf, Jesse Moore, and Ethan Norton all won decisions for the Sandites.

Sand Springs was firing on all cylinders in their Homecoming dual against Union, earning six pins and a technical fall. Union won only four matches, all of which came at the hands of returning State Qualifiers, and they never led.

Wolf earned a 17-2 third-period technical fall at 113 but a pin from Riley Trickett at 132 pulled the Redskins as close as 11-10. Ethan Norton won a 6-3 decision, and the next eight matches were all decided by pin. Noah Smith and Gavin Koehler got the bonus points for Union, while Smith, Jones, White, Whitehorn, Dudley, and Harris powered to the win.

The last time the Sandites finished the year without a winning record was a 6-6 performance in the 2005-2006 season. They haven’t had a losing record since at least 1986, which is as far back as Sandite Pride’s records go. Sandite fans can rest assured things will likely get back to normal next year when quarantines and COVID-19 are (hopefully) no longer a factor.

Gatlin Gunn named Most Outstanding Wrestler at Perry Tournament of Champions

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The Sand Springs Junior High wrestling team took home fourth place overall with five finalists last weekend at the Perry Tournament of Champions, and 126-pounder Gatlin Gunn led the way with a first place finish and the title of the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler.

Gunn breezed through the competition with five pins and a technical fall, outscoring his foes 33-3 without giving up a single takedown. He pinned three of his foes in the first period, two in the first minute, and only allowed one opponent to score on him. In the finals round against Collinsville freshman Cable Golden he gave up a reversal in the first period, but quickly pinned the Cardinal fifteen seconds into the second to take home the title.

Also earning their way into the finals were Matthew Moore, Jayden Pait, Landon Horton, and Adrian Flores, who all finished in second place. Moore went 5-1 at 106 pounds, pinning three opponents. Jayden Pait was 4-2 at 112 with one pin. Landon Horton went 5-1 at 119 with two pins. Adrian Flores pinned two opponents and went 4-2 at 155.

Tanner Copeland placed third at 86, Kase Skaggs was sixth at 92, Landyn Barnes placed sixth at 119, Blake Stewart was sixth at 132, Hudson Sheppard finished fourth at 140, and Jaden Allen was fourth at 170.

The Sandites were without competitors at 80, 195, and 285 pounds, which likely kept them from second place. They finished with 161.5 points, behind Deer Creek with 163.5 and Yukon with 165. Both of those teams had more complete lineups than the Sandites. Broken Arrow won the tournament with 265 points and five champions.