Miller-Pennington fishing team takes ninth at Bass Nation season opener

Photo: Virgil Noah

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The Oklahoma High School Bass Nation fishing season officially kicked off recently at Lake Murray and Sand Springs Team #2 landed ninth place on a tough weekend where no single team caught the limit. 

Of the 86 teams that turned out for the event, only 42 landed a fish and only sixteen brought in more than one. John Miller and Caden Pennington hauled in two fish weighing 4.36 pounds for ninth place. Noah Daczewitz and Hunter Hilger caught one fish, weighing 2.58 pounds, for 24th place. Kyle and Kale Hilligoss caught one fish, weighing 2.27 pounds, for 29th place. Austin Smith and Joe Nelson caught one fish, weighing 2.03 pounds, for 32nd place. 

Last season was the first year Sand Springs had any teams participate in the Bass Nation High School Trail, and finished with three teams by the end of the season. Daczewitz and Hilger finished ninth in the standings and placed seventeenth in the State Championship. Miller and Pennington finished sixteenth in the standings and placed fourteenth at State. Braden Millican and Ty Steelman finished 36th in the standings and took twelfth at State. 

In addition to the Hilligoss team and the Smith-Nelson team, three other Sand Springs teams have signed up to participate this year. Seth Kearns and Cole Scott make up Team #5, Jerret Haley and Corbin Williams comprise Team #6, and Jacob Weathers and Bryson Wooten are Team #8. 

The Bass trail only includes one date in the fall, and won't pick up again till Spring of 2017 with back-to-back tournaments at Lake Eufaula on April 1st and April 2nd. The teams will also compete on Ft. Gibson Lake on Lake Tenkiller.

CPHS Senior Kyle Keener signs with University of Central Oklahoma Basketball

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Charles Page High School senior Kyle Keener officially signed to play for the University of Central Oklahoma Bronchos Tuesday morning at Ed Dubie Field House.

The Bronchos are an NCAA Division Two school, competing the the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association conference. They finished last season with a 16-14 overall record, 11-11 in conference, and 10-5 at home. They went 1-1 in last season's MIAA post-season tournament, defeating the University of Central Missouri 94-64 before falling 67-61 to Fort Hays State. The Bronchos are led by second-year head coach Tom Hankins who spent the prior 15 years as a Division One assistant coach at Oral Roberts University. 

Keener has been a crucial component in the turnaround program at Sand Springs, averaging 11 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 blocks per game last season. He held a 62% field goal percentage and 77% free throw percentage over the season and posted two double-doubles with a career-high 22 points against Tulsa NOAH. The 6'6" center led his team in scoring on four separate occasions. He is a member of the Vype Oklahoma Top 50, was nominated for Tulsa World Mr. Inside, and was named to the Coffeyville All Tournament Team last season.

SEE RELATED: CPHS Senior Jake Terry officially signs with University of Oklahoma baseball
SEE RELATED: CPHS Senior Sydney Pennington signs with Oklahoma State University Softball
SEE RELATED: CPHS Senior Jessica Collins signs with Connors State College Softball
SEE RELATED: CPHS Senior Cheyenne Walden signs with Oklahoma State University Cross Country
SEE RELATED: CPHS Senior Alexis Davis signs with SWOSU Cross Country

CPHS senior Michael Ritchey takes first place at Joe Zamora Open

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Several members of the Sand Springs wrestling team traveled to Broken Arrow this past weekend for the Joe Zamora/Skyler Holman Open, and seven wrestlers took first place.

Charles Page High School senior Michael Ritchey competed in the high school division at 126 pounds and took first place with a 4-0 record. He won his first match 3-0 over Ernie Chavez of Jenks, then majored Garrett Jarvis of Broken Arrow 8-0. In the semifinals he won another 3-0 decision, this time over Owasso's Tristan Herrera, and wrapped it up with a close 3-2 win over Chase Slatton of Jenks.

Rhett Peak competed in the sixth-seventh grade division at 80 pounds and finished 4-1 for third place. He lost his opening round in a 6-0 decision to Aiden Boyd (Claremore), but finished strong with a 20-10 major decision over Jaden Mathis (Pryor), then pinned his next three opponents in a cumulative 1:27. Kaleb Burns (Sallisaw) went down in 0:12, Denton Degner (Bristow) fell in 0:36, and Bradley Vanblaricom (McAlester) lost in 0:39.

Ryder Barnes competed in the sixth-seventh grade division at 98 pounds and finished 3-0 for first place. He won his opening match with a 10-5 decision over Bradley Saucedo (Broken Arrow), then pinned Rashaud Morgan (Vinita) in 3:26. His final match was a close 2-0 decision over Brock Mattioda (Broken Arrow).

Chase White competed in the sixth-seventh grade division at 113 pounds and finished 2-1 for second place. He won his opening bout with a 1:13 pin over Drake Norfleet (Broken Arrow), then defeated Carson Young (Claremore) by 5-0 decision before falling in 3:56 to Isaac Xiong (Oologah) in the finals. 

Luke Burdette competed in the sixth-seventh grade division at 126 pounds and finished 5-1 for third place. He won his opening match with an 1:21 before falling in 1:53 to Gustabo Ramirez (Bixby). He won out with a 9-3 decision over Jarahmy Blakely (Oologah) and a 2-1 decision over Connor Linam (Oologah), before pinning Jon Lane (Muskogee) in 2:41 and Daltyn Jory (Jay) in 1:21. 

Carter Young competed in the junior high division at 89 pounds and finished 3-0 for first place. He won his opening match 9-3 over Blazik Perez (Broken Arrow) then pinned Grant Edwards (Oologah) in 3:00. The final match was won with a 16-4 major decision over Garett Strickland (Collinsville).

Caden Vaughn competed in the junior high division at 113 pounds and finished 3-1 for third place. He won his opening match with a 1:16 pin of Dayton Hill (Broken Arrow) before giving up a 9-0 major decision to teammate Josh Taylor. He rebounded with a 2-0 decision over Christian Knight (Broken Arrow) and wrapped the tournament up with a 6-1 decision over Kolby Encinas (Pryor).

Josh Taylor competed in the junior high division at 113 pounds and finished 4-0 for first place. He won his opening match with a 2:57 pin of Kaelan Drake (Broken Arrow), then majored Blake Salt (Oologah) 11-1 and Caden Vaughn 9-0 before pinning Pason Dotson (Sallisaw) in 1:38. 

Tyler Rush competed in the junior high division at 126 pounds and finished 4-1 for third place. He was pinned in 2:33 in his opening match by Kohlin Garriott (Jenks), but rebounded with a 1:00 pin over Gunnar Spence (McAlester) and a 1:34 pin of teammate Jared Jenkins. From there he won a close 4-1 decision over Jared Douglas (Cascia Hall) and a 5-2 decision over Christian McIntosh (Pryor).

Caleb Phillips competed in the junior high division at 126 pounds and finished 3-0 for first place. He won his opening match with a 1:02 pin of Eric Wilson, then majored Nate Shaw (Metro Christian Academy) 11-0. In the finals he took down Garrett Weis (Jenks) 8-4.

Christopher Kirby competed in the junior high division at 140 pounds and finished 3-0 for first place. He won his opening match with an 0:31 pin of James Cothran (Bixby), then pinned Devon Vazquez (Broken Arrow) in 0:36. In the finals he majored Caleb Buzzard (Jay) 16-6.

Teagan Campbell competed in the junior high division at 175 pounds and finished 3-1 for third place. He won his opening match with an 0:28 pin of Jonathan Navarro (Broken Arrow), before giving up a 10-3 decision to Bryce Jackson (Oologah). The next two rounds were close, but Campbell prevailed 4-3 over Tyler Bachman (Bixby) and 3-0 over Matt Roach (Bristow).

Kaden Glass competed in the junior high division at 200 pounds and finished 4-0 for first place. He won his opening match in an 0:12 pin of Zach Garrison (Pryor), then won an 8-2 decision over Aaron Lytle (Sapulpa). He finished out with pins of 3:17 over Cameron Johnson (Broken Arrow) and 1:27 over Chad Tinney (Bixby). 

CPHS Senior Jessica Collins signs with Connors State College Softball

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Charles Page High School senior Jessica Collins signed with Connors State College Cowgirl Softball team Tuesday morning at the Ed Dubie Field House. 

Connors State is a public college located in Warner, Oklahoma and participates in the National Junior College Athletics Association Division I. They finished last season with a 36-18 overall record, and were 20-12 in conference. Michael Deese is in his first year as the interim Head Coach, replacing Rick Carbone who took over the head coaching position at Muskogee High School in May. 

Collins is a three-time All District Honorable Mention and was named to the All-District, All-Region, and All-State teams this year after helping her team to their third State Tournament appearance during her time at CPHS.

She was one of the top batters on the team this past fall, batting .316 for a .342 slugging average and .447 on-base percentage. She landed 29 singles, 7 doubles, and 19 sacrifices for 39 runs and 22 RBI on 114 at-bats. She was five of six on base stealing and was in one one double play.

The Lady Sandites finished the season 30-8, 11-3 for second place in their district and first in Regionals They made the State Championship two years in a row and finished as State Runners-Up in 2015. 

SEE RELATED: CPHS Senior Jake Terry officially signs with University of Oklahoma baseball
SEE RELATED: CPHS Senior Sydney Pennington signs with Oklahoma State University Softball
SEE RELATED: CPHS Senior Cheyenne Walden signs with Oklahoma State University Cross Country
SEE RELATED: CPHS Senior Alexis Davis signs with SWOSU Cross Country
SEE RELATED: CPHS Senior Kyle Keener signs with University of Central Oklahoma Basketball

CPHS Senior Alexis Davis signs with SWOSU Cross Country

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Charles Page High School senior Alexis Davis signed a letter of intent to run Cross Country and Track for Southwestern Oklahoma State University Tuesday morning at Ed Dubie Field House. 

SWOSU is a public university located in Weatherford, Oklahoma and competes in NCAA Division II and Great American Conference. The SWOSU Cross Country season recently came to a close at the Central Region Championship where the team placed 24th. They took third at the Conference Championship and sixth at the Oklahoma State Cowboy Jamboree. Head Coach Shane Brookshire is in his third year at the program.

Davis, along with Oklahoma State commit Cheyenne Walden, is the first Lady Sandite in town history to qualify for the State Championship all four years. She took 59th place her freshman year, 21st place her sophomore year, 45th place her junior year, and 21st place her senior year. She also took 21st place this year at the Meet of Champions, which matches top runners from all divisions. Her 5K personal record is 19:53 and her one-mile PR is 6:11. She has been named to the All-Conference Cross Country team twice and was selected to the Meet of Champions Senior All-Star Team.

Last year in Track she set PRs of 2:49.20 in the 800 meter run, 5:57.43 in the 1600m, and 13:19.50 in the 3200m.

SEE RELATED: CPHS Senior Jake Terry officially signs with University of Oklahoma baseball
SEE RELATED: CPHS Senior Sydney Pennington signs with Oklahoma State University Softball
SEE RELATED: CPHS Senior Jessica Collins signs with Connors State College Softball
SEE RELATED: CPHS Senior Cheyenne Walden signs with Oklahoma State University Cross Country
SEE RELATED: CPHS Senior Kyle Keener signs with University of Central Oklahoma Basketball

CPHS Senior Cheyenne Walden signs with Oklahoma State University Cross Country

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Charles Page High School senior Cheyenne Walden officially signed with Oklahoma State University Track and Cross Country Tuesday morning at Ed Dubie Fieldhouse.

The OSU Cowgirls are ranked No. 15 in the nation and are the highest ranked team in the Big 12. The Cross Country team finished second in the Midwest Regionals recently to qualify for the NCAA National Championship. Four cowgirls were named to the All-Region Team. The cowgirls also took second in the Big 12 Conference Championship. Head Coach Dave Smith has been the Men's Head Coach since 2006 and has coached both the Men and Women since 2009. He has been voted the Big 12 Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year eight times and the Women's Cross Country Coach of the Year in 2015. He has led the Men's program to three National Championships. She is a three-time Sandite of the Week award winner.

Walden is a four-time Frontier Conference Champion, four-time Regional Champion, and four-time State Champion. She was thrice named the Gatorade Female Cross-Country Runner of the Year, thrice named the Tulsa Metro Cross-Country Runner of the Year, and has won the Oklahoma Meet of Champions three times. She has made the All-Conference Cross Country and All-Conference Track team three times and the All-State Cross Country team four times. Her 5K personal record is 17:32 and her one-mile record is 5:21. 

She is a three-time State Champion in Track and has gone undefeated in the 3200 meter run for two-straight years. She holds a State Championship medal in the 1600m and two medals in the 3200m. Her personal record for the 800m run is 2:17.58. Her PR for the 1600m is 5:02.46 and her PR for the 3200m is 10:45.43.

Last year she ran at the Nike South Regional Championship and took sixth place to qualify for Nationals where she finished 59th. She will compete again at Regionals this Saturday at Bear Branch Park in The Woodlands, Texas against runners from five states.

SEE RELATED: CPHS Senior Jake Terry officially signs with University of Oklahoma baseball
SEE RELATED: CPHS Senior Sydney Pennington signs with Oklahoma State University Softball
SEE RELATED: CPHS Senior Jessica Collins signs with Connors State College Softball
SEE RELATED: CPHS Senior Alexis Davis signs with SWOSU Cross Country
SEE RELATED: CPHS Senior Kyle Keener signs with University of Central Oklahoma Basketball