Sand Springs Wrestling Team qualifies four for Nationals

/

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. 

2X Sandite of the Week: Daton Fix

/

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.

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.

Daton Fix wins third State Championship, team finishes third

/
image.jpg

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The long train of Sand Springs 2015-2016 Championship appearances has led from softball to cross country to dance to football to dual state, and now it's stationed at Oklahoma State Fair Arena in Oklahoma City where the Sandites sent ten qualifiers for one of their best performances in years. 

The wrestlers may not have pulled off their first team championship since 1971, but they have undoubtedly shown themselves strong in the great tradition of Sandite athletic excellence. 

Going into the tournament Sand Springs held 35 individual State titles from 25 champions. The likelihood of adding to that number was strong as they brought six Regional Champions and one returning State Champion in Daton Fix.  

106 pound freshman Riley Weir (21-12), 113 pound junior Michael Ritchey (24-12), and 170 pound senior Trace Fleischman (10-6) were eliminated without placing.  

Sophomore Payton Scott (19-6) came in fourth place in 152 after an upset by Westmoore's Trey Painter whom he initially defeated in round one of the tournament. The two went into a tie breaker round where Painter came on top with a 3-2 decision.

Sophomore Blake Sargent (39-12) came in third at 120, scoring first with an escape midway through the second period against Zackery Bibb of Capitol Hill. Bibb tied it up moments into the third. The two remained neutral through the third, the sudden victory round, and the first tie breaker. In the second tie breaker round Sargent got the escape and the 2-1 victory. Bibb had initially defeated Sargent in round one. 

160 pound Junior Zane Basma (35-12) came in third after taking a quick lead by takedown and near fall less than a minute in to his match against Enid's Anthony Gonzalez. He added another takedown for near fall points moments into the third for a 9-0 lead and ultimately triumphed with a 16-0 tech fall in 4:32. 

132 pound junior Jack Karstetter (39-8) settled for State Runner Up after a narrow 3-2 decision to Kruz Simons of Edmond North. Simons scored first with a first period takedown with only 18 seconds left. Karstetter added a quick escape to start the second, then cut Simons loose a minute into the third after efforts at a pin proved fruitless. Unfortunately he was unable to find the takedown.

138 pound junior Beau Bratcher (43-7) came in second to Jaxen Gilmore of Yukon. Bratcher scored first with a quick takedown but Gilmore was right behind him with a reversal for near fall points to end the first period. Gilmore added another reversal with 40 left in the second and took a 7-2 lead into the final period where he pinned the Sandite in 4:52. 

Junior Daton Fix (45-0) secured his third consecutive undefeated State Championship with a 23-8 tech fall over fellow Fargo Champion Dalton Duffield of Westmoore in 4:58. Fix made it through the match without giving up a single takedown or reversal. Fix is now only the second Sandite ever to win three State Championships, following in the path of David McGuire who won three from 1963-1965.

This is Sand Springs's 36th individual State Championship and the first time since 1979 that the Sandites have brought home a gold medal three years in a row. 

9 Sandites remain at State, only slightly behind Broken Arrow and Choctaw

/
image.jpg

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The remaining Sandites have about an hour long break before the next round begins at the 6A State Championship in Oklahoma City. 

Charles Page wrestling qualified eleven for the tournament with seven Regional Champions, more than either Broken Arrow or the Dual State Champions from Choctaw. Unfortunately 220 pound junior and Regional Champion Delvin Jordan was unable to participate dropping the number to nine. 

106 freshman Riley Weir (20-12) came in third at Regionals and was pitted against Choctaw's Colt Newton (40-3) in the first round and was pinned in 0:41. From there he was majored 14-4 by Yukon's Braden Fowler and eliminated. 

113 Regional Champion Michael Ritchey (22-16) was defeated in round one by Westmoore's Wes Hardin (31-11) by a narrow 5-2 decision but managed to hold the lead in the next match for a 5-3 victory over Spencer Schickram (14-9) of Ponca City. 

120 Regional Champion Blake Sargent (36-10) went into overtime with Zackery Bibb (24-5) of Capitol Hill and lost 4-2 in the tie breaker round. He fell in an early hole to Justin Gundlach (29-11) of Moore and trailed 3-2 going into the final period, but rallied for a takedown and pin at 5:14 to stay alive in the consolation bracket. 

126 two-time undefeated State Champion Daton Fix (44-0) pinned Bobby Robinson (30-13) of Deer Creek in 1:37.

132 Regional Champion Jack Karstetter (38-7) breezed through his first match with a 17-2 tech fall over Norman's Jeffrey Adams (23-12) in 5:42.  

138 Regional Champion Beau Bratcher (40-6) pinned Choctaw's Jeff Speer (23-10) in 4:48. 

145 Regional Champion Payton Scott (18-4) pinned Westmoore's Trey Painter (32-10) in 3:52.  

160 Regional Runner-Up Zane Basma (32-11) scored an 8-3 decision over Sam Hensley (31-13) of Edmond Memorial.  

170 Trace Fleischman (10-4) placed fourth at Regionals but rebounded big time at State with a 3-1 upset of West Regional Champion Jacob Schimmels (23-6) of Edmond. 

The top three teams are as close now as they have been all season with Broken Arrow at 25.5, Choctaw at 25, and Sand Springs at 23.5.  

The semi finals will begin at 7:15.  

#1 Sandites unstoppable with 2 shutouts and 4th place finish at Yukon tourney

/

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

What a time to be a Sandite! Our football and softball teams were State Runners-Up, Cheyenne Walden won the cross country State Championship, and now we're midway through our Winter sports and there's no sign that this outstanding class of athletes has any intention of slowing down. 

Both of our basketball teams won games by more than 40 points this weekend and are ranked top 15, and our wrestlers have had the craziest week in years. Last week the wrestlers (9-0) dominated #1 Broken Arrow (4-2) 33-19 to earn the top spot in the state and followed it up Tuesday with a 57-15 slaughter of Bixby (0-4).

Thursday the wrestlers traveled to Enid for the triple-header District Duals. The Sandites pulled off the highest-scoring dual possible against the Putnam West Patriots (3-6), winning all matches by pin for an 84-0 shutout. U.S. Grant (11-4) only fared slightly better, losing by 80-0 shutout, and Enid (4-4) was put down 65-6 to secure the Sandites' spot at Dual State.

Not only did the boys have to wrestle three duals in a single day, but they didn't even get a day off to rest before traveling to Yukon for the annual Jay Hancock Memorial Invitational. 

The Sandites placed fourth in the tournament with nine placers and three champions. Allen, Texas, ranked 25th in the nation by Flowrestling, took first place, followed by Choctaw in second and Plainview third. Choctaw is currently ranked 2nd in Tournaments and 3rd in Duals.  Plainsview is ranked #1 in both 3A categories.

The Sandites have two duals left this season. Tuesday night the boys will take on the #1 5A Collinsville Cardinals, and Thursday they'll battle the #15 Jenks Trojans. 

The Sandites are still missing 106 starting freshman #7 Riley Weir (15-8), who's nursing a hand injury, but they have plenty of capable fill-ins at the lower weights. 

106 Scotty Patton (3-2)- 5th Place

  • teched 17-0 in 4:00 by #8 Trenton Higginbotham (Edmond North) 
  • pinned Bennett Siler (Westlake) in 0:49
  • majored Brendan Noetzal (Southlake Carroll) 16-7
  • pinned in 1:52 by #5 Braden Fowler (Yukon)
  • pinned Dominic Fitzpatrick (Moore) in 5:54

113 #5 Michael Ritchey (15-13) - 4th Place

  • pinned Davion Perkins (Lawton) in 1:59
  • defeated Chase Slatton (Jenks) 5-1
  • teched 15-0 in 4:20 by #1 Paxton Rosen (Edmond North) 
  • defeated Jonathan Warford (Sapulpa) 8-2
  • lost 10-3 to Logan Brown (Allen)

120 #6 Blake Sargent (26-9) - 5th Place

  • lost 5-0 to Jack Skudlarczyk (Westlake) 
  • majored Cameron Clark (Sapulpa) 12-3
  • pinned Zane Everett (Yukon) in 2:43
  • pinned Jaxson Roney (Plainview) in 3:54
  • lost 3-0 to Jack Skudlarczyk (Westlake)
  • pinned #5 Zane Taylor (Yukon) in 4:28

126 #4 Jack Karstetter (26-6) - Champion

  • pinned Ibrahim Crespo (Capitol Hill) in 1:00
  • pinned Kaiden Ogee (Choctaw) in 2:45
  • majored #3 Clayton Seleznoff (Moore) 9-1
  • defeated Zach Atencio (Plainview) 3-1 by sudden victory

132 Unattached Derek Davis (7-4) - DNP

  • defeated Tre Moore (Allen) 5-4
  • lost 7-2 to Dayton West (Deer Creek) 
  • lost 10-4 to Cole Shipman (Choctaw)

132 Daton Fix (31-0) - Champion

  • pinned Andrew Day (Jenks) in 0:52
  • pinned Garrett Griffin (Sapulpa) in 0:27
  • teched Hunter Hershey (Westlake) 23-6 in 3:57
  • teched Madison Roney (Plainview) 28-13 in 5:55

138 #2 Beau Bratcher (30-5) - Runner-Up

  • pinned Joseph Smith (Moore) in 0:59
  • pinned Noah Austin (Edmond North) in 1:12
  • pinned David Washington (Allen) in 4:34
  • lost 2-0 to #1 Jaxen Gilmore (Yukon)

145 Cody Mathis (10-11) - 6th Place

  • pinned in 1:41 by Ty Lucus (Plainview)
  • pinned Hunter Walsh (Edmond North) in 0:32
  • pinned Dylan Waklee (Choctaw) in 3:55
  • pinned in 0:38 by #1 Chase Vincent (Yukon)
  • defeated 7-1 by Gabe Moreau (Westlake)

At 152 #2 Payton Scott (11-3) is also taking some time to recover before State, and the Sandite roster has less depth in the upper weights. Every tournament this season has had at least one weight class forfeited, and the team would consistently place higher were they at full strength. 

160 #4 Zane Basma (22-9) - Champion

  • pinned Leon Larkpor (Putnam City) in 0:38
  • defeated #5 Chase King (Choctaw) 7-1
  • defeated John McCabe (Allen) 5-1
  • defeated Anderson Salisbury (Westlake) 3-1

170 Bryton Beck (8-13) - DNP

  • defeated Keith Thierry (Lawton) 7-2
  • lost 8-3 to #7 Jacob Schimmels (Deer Creek)
  • majored Cameron Hanson (Moore) 12-1
  • pinned in 0:51 by Eli Paul (Plainview)

182 #3 Trace Fleischman (6-6) - DNP

  • pinned Tres Davis (Westlake) in 1:27
  • lost 7-0 to #2 Noah Hooks (Edmond North)
  • pinned #9 Jak McCall (Deer Creek) in 1:46
  • lost 3-2 to #6 Jared Kerr (Bixby)

195 Zach Sims (17-18) - 4th Place

  • majored Zane Bailey (Edmond North) 14-5
  • defeated #4 Cody Adams (Bixby) 8-4 
  • lost 3-1 to Bodie Davis (Plainview) 
  • defeated Cole Dixon (CPHS) 6-1
  • lost 3-0 to #4 Cody Adams (Bixby) 

195 Unattached Cole Dixon (3-3) - 6th Place

  • defeated Nathan Seaton (Edmond North) 10-4
  • lost to Dalton Madole (Allen) 7-4
  • pinned Bracken Campbell (Plainview) in 1:00
  • pinned Jake Johnson (Southlake Carroll) in 1:31
  • lost 6-1 to Zach Sims (CPHS) 
  • lost 8-3 to Dakota Carnes (Sapulpa) 

220 Delvin Jordan (7-4) - DNP

  • pinned Conner O'Neal (Plainview) in 0:49
  • lost 7-3 to #1 Nic Roller (Bixby)
  • pinned Colin Foster (Yukon) in 0:40
  • lost 4-2 to Tyrel Bell (Choctaw)

285 Gage Fain (7-16) - DNP

  • pinned in 3:23 by Dorian Fagan (Plainview) 
  • defeated Hunter Richard (Edmond North) 2-1
  • lost 2-1 in tie-breaker to Ashraf Mohamad (Edmond North)

#1 Undefeated Sandite wrestling breezes through Bixby, 57-15

/

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief, with Morgan Miller, Staff Writer

It was a strange night for the #1 Sandite varsity wrestling team (6-0), as half of them didn't even get to touch the mat. The Bixby Spartans (0-5) forfeited the first half of the night's matches, so nobody from 106-145 got to wrestle. 

Cody Mathis (8-8) wrestled up from his normal 145 to 152 for the first time since December, taking on Gavin Staton for the first time this season. Staton took an early lead with a 2-point takedown. Mathis got the escape, then briefly took a 3-2 lead with a reversal, but Staton reversed it back for the 4-3 lead. With 12 seconds left in the second period, Mathis escaped to even things out going into the third. Staton took the down position and scored an escape leaving Mathis fighting for a takedown, but unable to find it and suffering a 5-4 decision.

At 160 it was Zane Basma (18-9) taking an early 7-0 lead over Phillip Tyree with a pair of near-falls before finally letting his opponent out to take him down for the third time, this time for good. The two had yet to meet this season, and after a 1:50 fall, Tyree is unlikely to want to encounter Basma again.  

170 Bryton Beck (6-11) got off to a hot start against Max Guyer, scoring a 2-point takedown early on. He scored an easy escape to start the second period, then got the takedown for a 5-0 lead before finally letting Guyer up just to take him down once again. Beck had a slight mishap where he struggled so hard to prevent an escape that he put himself off balance and inadvertently gave up a takedown. He quickly corrected that mistake with a reversal before letting Guyer out with a 9-4 lead. The match ended with one more takedown shortly before the buzzer and Beck broke a three-loss streak with an 11-4 decision and nearly all the riding time. 

Lane Lettich (4-4) saw action at 182 against state-placer Jared Kerr. Lettich scored first with a pair of 2-pt takedowns, each punctuated by an escape for a 4-2 lead. In the second period, however, Kerr started off with an escape and then scored a takedown, and Lettich broke free to tie things up 5-5. Both wrestlers began to tire out and big moves became few and far between. Lettich took a brief 6-5 lead to start the third. Lane tried to score a takedown with a trip, but Kerr ended up on top for the lead with 40 seconds left. With under 30 to go Lettich fought his way free and sent the match into overtime where Kerr got the takedown for sudden victory, 9-7. 

At 195 Zach Sims (14-16) rematched 2015 Regional Runner-Up Cody Adams, whom he had an 0-3 record against in previous matches. Most recently Adams defeated Sims by 7-2 decision this past weekend at the Bobby Lyons Invitational. Sims had Adams on one leg for nearly ten seconds before Adams managed to squirm out of it and take Sims down instead. Sims tied things up with a pair of escapes, but was taken down once more shortly before the end of the second period. Adams took the down position for the third period and never managed to escape, but despite riding him the entire period Sims was unable to score points and gave up a 4-2 decision. 

The Sandites forfeited 220 to allow Delvin Jordan to continue resting a tweaked ankle and wrapped up the night at 285 with Gage Fain (6-14) against Austin Hiser. Fain qualified at 220 but has been wrestling up to heavyweight for most of the season. Despite being drastically outclassed in terms of weight, he had no problem scoring a quick takedown and turning it into a pin in only 1:07.

From there Riley Weir (15-8), Michael Ritchey (12-11), Blake Sargent (22-7), Jack Karstetter (22-6), Daton Fix (27-0), Derek Davis (6-2), and Beau Bratcher (27-4) all accepted forfeits for a final score of 57-15. 

Erin Kennedy was named Homecoming Queen and was escorted by Beau Bratcher, Blake Sargent, and Marshall Tate. Other Queen candidates include: Blyte Lester escorted by Daton Fix and Sage Singleton, Shelby Tillman escorted by Jack Karstetter and Zane Basma, Madison McIntosh escorted by Payton Scott and Bryton Beck, and Chandler Lindsey escorted by Trace Fleischman and Zach Sims.

The Sandites return to action Thursday night at Putnam City.