Four Sandites qualify for State Championship Track Meet

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The Charles Page High School girls track team qualified four for the State Tournament at the 6A East Regional Track Meet in Claremore Saturday morning. Alexis Davis, Nia Byrd, Elizabeth Watts, and Cheyenne Walden placed fourth in the 4x800 meter relay with their best performance of the season in 10:18.1. Walden also qualified individually in the 800, 1600, and 3200 races with first place finishes in the later two. 

Walden is undefeated in the 3200, having won seven first place medals this season. She finished the 3200 at Regionals in 11:00.78 and picked up her fourth win of the season in the 1600 with a time of 5:17.06. She also qualified in the 800 with a third place finish in 2:21.30. Last year Walden won a State Championship in the 3200 with a time of 11:08.366, beating the runner-up by an 18-second margin. She also came in runner-up in the 1600 behind teammate Morgan Long. As a freshman she placed third in 3200, and she's a three-time Cross Country State Champion.

Elizabeth Watts placed 8th in High Jump at 4'06.00" and 9th in the 300 hurdles with a time of 56.19. Lauren Barkdull placed 16th in the 1600 with a season-best time of 6:39.91. Sara Abbet placed 17th in the 1600 with a season-best time of 6:44.22.

Overall, the girls placed seventh as a team and the boys came in eighth. Landin Green, Jacob Garby, Ian Baustert, and Aden Baughman ran the 4x800 relay and placed 6th with a season-best 8:42.1.

Freshman Aden Baughman set a personal record with a 6th place finish in the 1600 in 4:45.49. Colton Washington placed 10th in long jump with a distance of 19'09.5". 

Jacob Fortune placed 12th in the 100 in 11.97, 15th in the long jump at 17'04.5", and 16th in the discus throw with a personal best of 98'10". Austin McCaskey came in 12th in the 800 with a season-best 2:12.79.

Jacob Smith placed 16th in the 3200 with a season-best 11:48.26, closely followed by Danny Murray who placed 17th with a season-best 11:50.25. Kobe Chin placed 19th in discus with a distance of 77'05". 

The State Tournament Track Meet will be held at Moore High School on Friday the 13th and Saturday the 14th. Events will begin Friday at 10:00 AM. 

The photo gallery from the Regional Track Meet can be found at https://sanditepride.smugmug.com/20152016-Track-and-Field/5716-Regional-Track-Meet-at/

Union wins two of three in Regional Series against Sand Springs

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The No. 14 ranked Charles Page High School slow pitch softball team (12-7) scored a pair of upsets at 9-2 and 9-3 over No. 10 Elk City (23-15) and No. 4 Union (24-6) respectively, before falling 1-0 in their second game against the Redskins. The Thursday afternoon Regional playoff was a double-elimination bracket, and Union rebounded from their first loss to the Sandites with a low-scoring game that saw only five total hits from the two teams. 

Game two against Union was far different from the first game which had twenty hits between the two teams. Senior Northeastern State University-signee Jessica Schuler (8-4) got the loss on the mound, despite giving up zero earned runs, and only two hits and two walks. 

The lone run of the game came on a sacrifice fly from Mackenzie Addis to score Jackie Self, who reached on an error in left field. The Lady Sandites stranded a total of four runners over the course of the game in their only shutout loss of the season. 

With each team holding a 2-1 tournament record, the Redskins avenged their earlier loss with a 16-2 payback for the Regional Title and a ticket to State. 

The host team took a quick 4-0 lead in the top of the first as Sammy Ibison and Lexy Dobson each singled, then scored on an error in left field that allowed Addis to reach second. Another error on the same play, this time at third base, allowed Addis to reach third. She soon after came home on a throw. Toni Weese doubled to bring in Paige Boyle, who also doubled.

Sydney Pennington hit her second homer of the day to get the Sandites on the board, but it would be the last run the girls scored till the bottom of the fourth.

Union added two more in the top of the fifth as Britton Clark doubled in Dobson and Brylee Dickinson sacrificed to bring in Addis. 

The top of the fourth is where the Redskins effectively put the win out of reach for the Sandites, racking up another six runs with four coming on errors. Kimi Presnell drew a walk for the Sandites and came in on a double by Madelyn Blair, but Union caked on three more runs in the top of the fifth. The Lady Sandites failed to get on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fifth and Union won it by mercy rule to end the season for the Sandites. 

Schuler got the loss on the mound in game two, with Stella Millican (4-3) pitching the final inning.

Photo galleries from Regionals and the rest of the season can be found at https://sanditepride.smugmug.com/2016-Slow-Pitch-Softball

Undefeated Union soccer teams too much for Sandites

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By: Virgil Noah, Marketing Director
Photo by: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The Charles Page High School Girls Soccer team (8-2) carried a large amount of momentum into unquestionably their toughest matchup of the year. The Lady Sandites had won 6 straight including the Edison Green and White Tournament Championship beating Tulsa Memorial, Booker T. Washington, and Tulsa Edison by a combined score of 8-3. The Union High School Lady Redskins (8-0) entered the match undefeated and ranked #2 in the nation. They feature three Division 1 commits in Brianna Amos, Taylor Malham, and Parker Goins. Goins and Malham are both juniors committed to the University of Arkansas. Amos is a sophomore, and is committed to the University of Central Arkansas. 

The Lady Redskins raced out to a two goal lead five minutes in on goals from Amos and Malham. Payton Lieb then scored back-to-back goals on assists from Malham, and Malham scored her second goal of the half in the 32' to put Union up 5-0. Sand Springs managed to get off three shots just before half, but the hits from Oral Roberts University commit Brooklyn Eardley, and Lauren Tavaglione went just wide of goal, and Megan Deshazo's shot attempt was dove on by Redskin keeper Paige Hobart. 

Sandite keeper Abigail Banks and the back line really tightened things up in the second half though, as Banks made a multitude of impressive saves and Union was only able to score one goal. Sand Springs was held to just four shots for the entire game by the Redskins' stifling defense and lost by a final score of 6-0.  

The Charles Page High School Boys (2-8) traveled to the Union Soccer Complex to face the Union High School boys soccer team (9-0) who also came in nationally ranked, at #8. 

Sand Springs played extremely well defensively allowing just one goal in the first half, coming on a penalty kick from Aaron Ugbah in the 27'.  Sandite goalie Edgar Soberano read the kick and dove for it, but Ugbah placed it just past Soberano's fingertips. 

Charles Page managed just 2 shots for the match, the only one on goal coming from the left foot of midfielder Alex Hernandez. The shot came from well outside the box and was saved by the Redskin keeper. Danny Perez put the nail in the Sandites' coffin with a goal in the 69' to push the lead to 2-0. 

Defensively the Sandites played very impressively, allowing just two goals to a team that has outscored their opponents 30-5 for the year. The back line is composed of Billy Pelfrey, Gabe Jeffus, Kristian Fairchild, and Kaleb Brooks.  

Sand Springs will play next at home on Friday against Putnam City North, Varsity Girls at 6 pm. and Varsity Boys at 8 pm. 

Sandite of the Week: Ethan Baxter

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

This week Sandite Pride would like to recognize Charles Page High School freshman Ethan Baxter as Sandite of the Week for his outstanding performance at the Tulsa Edison Green and White Tournament this past weekend.

Baxter leads his team in scoring this season with four goals, three of them coming in a single game this weekend. His hat trick led his team to a 4-1 victory over Regent Prep to snap a five-game losing streak. 

He scored his first goal of the season in a 4-0 shutout of Muskogee in the opening week. He scored his first goal of the Regent game on a header less than 8 minutes into the game, then added his second exactly 4 minutes later. 

The Sandites are now 2-7 for the season and came in 6th of 8 teams in the Edison Tournament.

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.

#20 Jenks Trojans upset #10 Sandites

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The Charles Page High School varsity dribblers still hold their #10 ranking, but have been going in the opposite direction from where they started.  

After starting the season 7-0, the boys have given up four straight and gave up a close loss to the #20 Jenks Trojans whom they should have handled easily. 

The Sandites got on the board first with a layup by Arvionte Nichols, but TJ Washington shot three from three-point range, broken up by a Kyle Keener free throw, to make the score 9-3. Once more it would appear the Trojans were having difficulty at the score table, however, and the score was only updated to 7-3--a mistake that would not be corrected.  

The Trojan scoring frenzy continued till they had worked up a 22-9 first quarter lead.

The second quarter belonged to Sand Springs, however, as the Sandites found their mojo and doubled the home team 16-8 by half time. The visitors still trailed by 5 (three according to the scoreboard) but they were clearly on the up-and-up.  

The Sandites won the third quarter as well, but only by 12-11 and still trailed by four going into the final period.  

Both teams battled valiantly but ultimately it came down to a series of desperation fouls and the Trojans came out on top for a 53-48 finish with Washington sinking a pair of freebies for an incredible 28 point game high. 

Keener and Haddock both doubled but it was a shortage of rebounds that ultimately did the Sandites in.  

Jacob Garbey scores 21 in JV loss to Jenks

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The JV Sandite boys got off to a great start against the Jenks junior Trojans Friday night at Frank Herald Stadium, battling back and forth before taking a 19-17 lead at the end of the first.

The boys led by as much as 27-19 at one point before the home team went on a scoring streak nearly catching up 29-27 at the half.  

At some point during halftime the score was changed to 27-27 and the opposing teams were unable to reach a consensus on the score and the home team had their way. 

Not that those two points mattered in the end however, as the Trojans out scored the Sandites 23-8 in the third with 16 unanswered points before Josh Taber sank a pair of free throws.

Riding a 13 point advantage into the final period, the Trojans added another 11 to finish 61-44, or 61-42 according to the scoreboard. 

The boys fall to 1-5 on the season, despite a great performance from Jacob Garbey who scored an outstanding 21 points.