Lady Sandite Softball beats Enid by combined 34-1 in district double header

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The Charles Page High School varsity softball team (19-4, 10-1) jumped on their opponents hard and early in a Thursday afternoon double-header at Enid (6-17, 0-11). The Pacers managed only one hit in the first game and almost every Lady Sandite there scored a run.

The Sandites piled on six runs in the first inning alone. Freshman Felicity Horn hit a leadoff triple and scored on a wild pitch. Jacie Taber singled to score Sydney Pennington, Kimi Presnell singled to score Madelyn Blair, and Cameron Clemons capped the inning off with a three-run double to score Elizabeth Luttrell, Taber, and Presnell.

Taber (8-2) went to the mound in game one and her first three pitches were all strikes, setting the tone for yet another powerful performance from the impressive sophomore.

Pennington hit a home run to start off the second inning and Madelyn Blair scored on a groundout by Taber. Presnell reached on a fielder's choice to score Luttrell, and Clemons singled to bring in Presnell for the 10-0 advantage.

Pennington tacked on two more runs in the top of the third, scoring Makenna Skaggs on a double before coming in on a single from Luttrell.

In the top of the fourth, freshman Sabrina Usher singled and scored on an error. 

Located in the Springs Village shopping center, next to Papa Pat's BBQ.

The top of the fifth was another explosive inning as Blair singled and scored on an error. Taber brought in Luttrell on a single and Jensen Arnold doubled to score Taber. Usher grounded out to score Presnell, Skaggs grounded out to score Arnold, and the Sandites had an 18-0 lead.

Despite putting two on base in the bottom of the inning, the Pacers were unable to score and the game ended by run-rule.

Game two was equally devastating for the home team. It took the Sandites till the second inning to get on the scoreboard, but they made it up for it with ten runs.

Luttrell doubled to start the inning and came in on a two-run homer by Taber. Clemons reached on an error to score Presnell and from there the girls went on a streak of doubles. Collins doubled to score Clemons, Pennington doubled to score Collins and Makenna Skaggs, and Madelyn Blair doubled to score Pennington. Luttrell doubled to score Usher, who ran courtesy for Blair. Taber reached on an error to bring in Luttrell, and Clemons wrapped things up with a double to score Taber.

Pennington smacked a two-run double in the bottom of the third to score Horn and Collins.

Enid finally got on the board in the top of the fourth with a single by Ruth Ramirez to score Haylee Schwandt, but it would be the lone run of the evening for the Pacers.

In the bottom of the inning, the Sandites piled on the offense as Presnell doubled and scored on a single from Horn. Pennington singled to score Horn, Blair doubled to score Collins and Pennington, and the Sandites led 16-1.

The Pacers failed to get on base in the top of the fifth and the Sandites secured the win. 

Madelyn Blair (6-2) got the win on the mound with only four hits against three strikeouts.

The Sandites were previously on a fourteen-game win-streak before having their Senior Night spoiled by Jenks (11-10, 7-6) on Tuesday. Collins and Taber were the only girls to land hits in the 1-0 loss. Taber got the loss in that game despite giving up only four hits against three strikeouts and zero earned runs.

The Lady Sandites will return to action next Monday when they travel to Bixby (14-10, 9-3) for a district makeup game. They will then host the Lady Spartans Tuesday night.

 

Former classmates Betts and Sigmon go head-to-head in MSU vs SW College

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Two Charles Page High School graduates found themselves at odds recently in a matchup between Southwestern College and Missouri State University.

Class of 2014 grad Jacob Sigmon started in the Southwestern College season opener two weeks ago. The Moundbuilders (0-1) dropped the first game of the season to Missouri State 57-0. Sigmon was the number two receiver for his team, hauling in three catches for twenty-seven yards. Southwestern returns to action Saturday at McPherson College (0-2).

On the other side of the ball was former classmate Tre Betts. Betts recorded two assisted and two unassisted tackles in the shutout win, but none were against his former teammate. Betts also played in week two against Murray State (0-2), but didn't record any tackles in the 28-22 victory. MSU improves to 2-0 and will next take on Kansas State (0-1) on Saturday, September 24th. 

Class of 2013 grad Isaiah Silversmith has seen action in both games this year for Northeastern State University (1-1). He didn't record any stats in the season-opening 38-19 loss to Washburn (1-1), but picked up two solo tackles in a 35-31 win over Lindenwood (1-1). The RiverHawks travel to Pittsburg State (1-1) Saturday.

Class of 2016 grad Jason Cooper saw action as a true freshman in the first game of the season at Southern Nazarene University (0-2). He recorded one solo and one assisted tackle during his third quarter showing in the season-opening 46-0 loss to Arkansas Tech (1-0) and earned a starting spot in week two where he posted one solo and two assisted tackles in a 63-7 loss to Harding University (2-0).

No. 16 Lady Sandite Volleyball dominates Booker T Washington in straight sets

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By: Virgil Noah, Staff Writer

The Charles Page High School Varsity volleyball team (21-11) made easy work of the Booker T. Washington (8-17) winning the match in three sets. The No. 16 Lady Sandites are coming off an impressive showing in the Port City Classic where they went 6-2 including a victory over 4A No. 1 Metro Christian Academy (28-6). The Sand Springs girls also have upset victories over No. 10 Union High School (8-10) and No. 14 Bixby High School (10-10).

Strong offense by the Lady Sandites and a plague of errors by Booker T. led to a 10-7 Sand Springs lead. Six straight points for CPHS made the lead 16-7. The two teams went back and forth over the ensuing volleys and the Sandites were able to stretch the lead to 23-15 before the Lady Hornets began to make a comeback. A pair of aces and a bundle of errors allowed BTW to trim the lead to a mere four points, but the Sandites would pull out the win 25-20. Gloria Mutiri and Holly Kersgieter combined for seven kills, while Madison Burris and MaKenzie Ward did the bulk of the setting with seven assists between them. 

The first game would prove to be the closest of the night, as in game two Sand Springs ripped off 14 out of the first 18 points, and cruised to a 25-14 win behind another five kills from Mutiri including a pair of aces. Ward added five more assists in the set.

The third and final set resulted in another 25-14 victory by the Sandites as errors weighed down Booker T. and the Lady Sandites were able to capitalize. Kersgieter and Devree Youngblood had four kills each in the final game, and Mutiri added three. Mutiri led the way for Sand Springs with 12 kills and 7 digs, Kersgieter finished with 9 kills, Youngblood with 7, and Ward had 12 assists on the evening. 

Next up for Booker T. Washington is 5A Edison Prep (8-22). The Lady Sandites will return to action at home on Tuesday against No. 7 Broken Arrow High School (17-5). The match will begin at 6:00 p.m.

Sandite Cross Country performs well at Broken Arrow, despite losing several runners to ACT

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The Charles Page High School varsity cross country team was missing some key runners in the Broken Arrow meet this past Saturday, but that didn't stop them from finishing in the upper-tier of competitors with several solid performances. ACT testing left the Sandites without the top two girls and several of the top boys. 

"The course was 300 meters short," said Head Coach Chris Corbin, "which means all of those great times don't mean as much.  Tough course and true distance this weekend at Holland Hall against some top teams should show us where we are with both varsity squads."

High School Girls 5K (4700)

22:07.52 Tiqvah Soap 16th Place
22:55.48 Sara Abbet 23rd Place
23:19.93 Nia Byrd 30th Place
23:32.62 Elizabeth Watts 33rd Place
23:58.65 Stephanie Genn 41st Place
24:00.78 Julia Lewis 42nd Place
26:32.68 Kaitlyn Walden 71st Place

High School Boys 5K (4700)

17:01.40 Aden Baughman 6th Place
18:00.11 Jacob Garbey 26th Place
18:15.90 Nelson Yazzie 31st Place
18:22.99 Kaegan Murray 33rd Place
18:32.68 Pierson Balsters 36th Place
19:52.15 Jaelyn Jackson 64th Place
25:11.27 Luis Rodriguez 93rd Place

Junior Varsity Boys 5K (4700)

2nd Place Jaden Weiser
5th Place Cooper Lynch
6th Place Phillip Elleman
13th Place Danny Murray
53rd Place Alex Newport
68th Place Omar Rodriguez
74th Place Cody Pulscher
75th Place Russell McCaskey
81st Place Josh Ivy
87th Place Kyle Starkey

Junior High Girls 2500 (2200)

9:39.90 Kalea Fleming 2nd Place
10:36.46 Kaitlynn Converse 15th Place
11:24.31 Kaylee Hall 35th Place
12:57.77 Sidney Cross 65th Place
13:22.34 Jolie Currie 69th Place

Junior High Boys 3200 (2900)

10:59.62 Blaine Baldridge 55th Place
11:03.11 Carter Young 60th Place
11:04.05 KJ Clark 62nd Place
11:41.56 Caleb James 78th Place
 

 

Junior Tiqvah Soap led the varsity girls team in their first 5K of the season with a 16th place finish in 22:07.52. The girls finished in fifth place out of eleven teams. Cheyenne Walden, who places first at almost every event, and Alex Davis, who was top-ten at the first two events this year, were absent.

Sophomore State Qualifier Aden Baughman led the boys for the second time this season with a 17:01.40 time for a sixth place finish. The boys also took fifth place out of thirteen teams. They were missing Landin Green, who led the Sandites last week, and Ian Baustert who was fourth among the team.

The JV boys nearly took first place for the third week in a row and were only one point away from doing so. With a full roster, they likely would have taken first. Jaden Weiser took second among JV, followed by Cooper Lynch in fifth and Phillip Elleman in sixth. Broken Arrow had problems with their timing system during the event and JV boys times are unavailable.

JV girls also ran, but results are unavailable due to technical issues. 

The Junior High girls came in sixth place of ten teams and were only two points away from fifth place. Eighth-grade student Kalea Fleming led the girls for the third-straight week, finishing in second place with a 9:39.90 time in the 2200m.

The Junior High Boys only had four runners and couldn't place.

Bartlesville High School will also be at the Holland Hall meet and will bring three runners who placed top five in last year's girls State Championship. Jenks will bring two top-five boys runners from last year's State Championship.

Lady Sandite Volleyball upsets No. 14 Bixby Spartans 3-2

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The Charles Page High School varsity volleyball team is continuing to impress in what could quite possibly be one of the best years in Sandite Volleyball history. It's been a long time since the girls have had a winning season, and they currently hold a 20-11 record and are ranked sixteenth by the OSSAA Coaches' Poll, despite the fact that just last week they upset the No. 10 Union Redskins (8-10). This past weekend the Lady Sandites went 6-2 at the Catoosa Port City Classic, and Tuesday they scored yet another upset over the No. 14 Bixby Lady Spartans (10-10).

At the Port City Classic this weekend, the Sandites defeated 5A No. 11 Claremore (12-16) 2-0 (25-23, 25-16), 4A No. 8 Catoosa (14-15) 2-0 (25-12, 25-16), 5A No. 5 Collinsville (17-6) 2-1 (25-22, 14-25, 15-12), 5A No. 7 Coweta 2-1 (23-25, 25-12, 15-4), 4A No. 1 Metro Christian (27-6) 2-0 (25-23, 25-19) and 5A No. 6 Shawnee 2-1 (21-25, 25-22, 15-11). They lost 2-0 to 4A No. 3 Victory Christian (18-5) in pool play with close sets of 25-23 and 25-21, and were eliminated in bracket play with a rematch against Metro Christian who won 2-0 with sets of 25-19 and 25-16.

Located at the 41st St. and H97 intersection, next to Super Save.

The Sandites were neck and neck with the Spartans for most of the match Tuesday, sometimes giving up the lead, but always competing. The Sandites sided out on a service error to start the game 1-0 and Lee Leslie set up Gloria Mutiri for a kill. Rachel Fisher returned the favor for the Spartans, but Mutiri tacked on another, followed by two Spartan errors, then Mutiri and Makenna Cypert combined on a block for the 6-1 advantage.

Bixby had the edge from there and battled back to tie it up at 10-10 with a kill from Fisher. Fisher and Mutiri both wore 21 on their uniform and the two were in a shootout for most of the match.

After Fisher briefly gave her team the 11-10 lead, the Sandites went on a run with a pair of kills from Leslie, a shot from Mutiri, and an ace from Devree Youngblood to make it 15-11. The Spartans tried to keep up from there, but the Sandites pulled ahead for a 25-18 win. Leslie scored a pair back-to-back aces late in the match and Mutiri added one as well.

The second set was marred by errors for the Sandites who handed Bixby nearly as many points as they earned. The first four Spartan points of the set were from Sandite errors, but the home team quickly took an 8-4 lead with kills from Mutiri and Holly Kersgieter after cleaning up the errors. 

The Spartans started to play then and scored a series of kills of their own and capped it off with an ace from Kendra Horowitz to tie it at 8-8. The teams exchanged a pair of service errors and continued to battle closely till Mutiri and Kersgeiter gave their team a 12-10 edge, followed by a pair of Spartan faults. 

Bixby tied it up again at 15-15 as Kayla Little and Sophie Childs combined to block one of Mutiri's hard-hitting spikes. The Sandites briefly trailed after Gaby Justus took the lead for the Spartans, but Kersgieter scored an ace to tie it at 21-21. The Sandites gave up three-straight errors from there, however, and Little notched the game-winner at 25-22 to tie the match.

The third set also went to the Spartans who benefited from thirteen Sandite errors. Tori Holt entered the game for the Spartans and notched five kills in the set. Sand Springs trailed by as much as 17-11 midway through the game before battling back to tie it up at 23-23 with an ace from Kendall Wise. Bixby came out of a timeout to score on a hit from Little and a Sandite error clinched the game for the Spartans to take the 2-1 lead.

The Sandites cleaned up their act a bit in the fourth set and the Spartans had to put in extra effort for a match-best eighteen kills. The game got off to a good start with an ace from Baylee Mudd followed by three-straight Spartan errors. The Spartans tied things up at 8-8, but Sand Springs went back on the run and held the lead till Holt hit an ace at 14-14. 

Youngblood took the lead back from the Spartans at 17-17 and Kersgieter scored back-to-back kills for the lead. The game tied up four more times from there and went into extra points. Tied at 24-24, Mutiri took the lead, Little tied it up then took the lead for the Spartans. A Spartan collision tied things up and a consecutive contact call gave the Sandites the lead. The set ended as Justus sent a spike out of bounds and the Sandites secured the win at 28-26. 

The final set was a "never count yourself out" type of game as the Spartans took the early lead and held it to the very end. Bixby lead by as much as 8-4 after Little scored three-straight, but the Sandites got within a point at 10-9 after back-to-back kills from Mutiri. Mudd built a campfire on a tipped ball to make it 12-11 and a Spartan error tied the match. The Spartans committed another pair of errors and Madison Burris set up Mutiri for the game-winner, 15-12. 

Mutiri lead in scoring for the Sandites with 30 kills, followed by Kersgieter with 15, Leslie with 8, and Youngblood with 7. Fisher and Little split the scoring for Bixby with 18 kills each, followed by Holt with 9, Justus with 7, and Childs with 6. Burris was the leading setter for the Sandites with 20 assists, followed by MaKenzie Ward with 19. 

The Lady Sandites have only six matches left this season before the Regional playoffs. They'll return to action Thursday at Booker T. Washington (8-16). Freshmen start at 4:00 p.m., followed by JV at 5:00 and Varsity at 6:00. 

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.

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.