Sandite Weekly Sports Roundup: Two Sandites Medal at State Wrestling Tournament

The Sand Springs boys’ wrestling team took tenth place at the OSSAA 6A State Tournament with two placers in their best finish since 2020.

Mitchell Smith took fourth place at 150 pounds to end his career as a four-time State qualifier and two time placer with a 108-35 record.

Mason Harris took fourth place at heavyweight and finished his junior year with a team-best 40-9 record.

The Sandites went 3-3 in the wrestle-in round and 3-3 in the quarterfinals with Jayden Pait, Jaxon Trotter, and Ethan White earning their way into the main bracket.

Smith, Harris, and Kase Skaggs all advanced to the semifinals before taking their first losses. Skaggs and Trotter were both eliminated one win short of the podium.

Sand Springs will graduate Smith and White but will return 12 starters and seven state qualifiers next season.

Soccer

The CPHS boys soccer team improved to 2-0-1 in preseason action while the girls fell to 2-1-0.

The boys won 3-0 against Collinsville on Tuesday with goals from Elias Villanueva, Zac Ritter, and Elgin Hernandez, with Brian Boyles recording an assist. They battled to a 1-1 draw against Sapulpa with Eli Bise scoring the lone goal.

The girls fell 2-1 against Collinsville, with Alyssa Cunningham scoring the lone goal on an assist from Ava Watts. On Thursday they defeated Sapulpa 4-1 with two goals from Watts and one goal apiece from Avery Miller and Ashley Feigenbaum.

The Sandites have one more scrimmage scheduled Tuesday against Glenpool before opening the regular season Friday with home matches against Tulsa NOAH at 6:00 p.m.

Bowling

The CPHS girls bowling team of Tabby Hicks, Olivia Alexander, Zoe Butler, and Kyeara Owens finished as Regional Runners-Up on February 18th in Sapulpa, advancing to the State Tournament Saturday in Enid.

At State they sat in second place after eight games of qualifying, but were eliminated in the first round of bracket play.

“I’m so proud of this team,” said coach Shawn Judy. “Three out of the four girls on the team, this is the first year they have competed in high school bowling. I believe we overachieved every expectation that anybody put on us.”

Baseball

Sandite baseball improved to 5-1-1 in preseason games, losing 6-7 at Owasso on Monday before winning 9-6 Tuesday against Bartlesville and 13-0 Thursday against Glenpool. On Saturday they beat Edmond Santa Fe 2-0 and tied Noble 3-3.

The Sandites will travel to Pryor on Monday and will host Union on Tuesday to conclude the preseason.

The regular season will kick off Thursday at 11:00 a.m. against Greenwood, AR with a home game Friday at 6:00 p.m. against Shawnee. Sand Springs will travel to Yukon Saturday at noon.

Sandite Wrestling Wins Glenpool Warrior Classic with 4 Champions

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The Charles Page High School wrestling team earned its first tournament title of the Ty Bowling era Saturday, crowning four champions at the 5th Annual Glenpool Warrior Classic.

The Sandites went 4-3 in the finals with Kase Skaggs, Mitchell Smith, Jaxon Trotter, and Mason Harris earning gold. No. 7 Sand Springs earned 219 team points to beat out No. 9 Owasso with 179.

“I think we finished the regular season strong,” said Bowling.

“We really wanted to go to (the Yukon tournament two weeks ago) but we were kind of beat up and we’d been going for a few weeks in a row so I felt like we needed to take that off and we really needed to get this one in right before the postseason started.”

Coincidentally, Bowling was previously the head coach at Glenpool, though this was the first time one of his teams would win the tournament

Skaggs breezed through the 106 bracket with three pins and 10-1 major decision in the finals against Owasso’s Elijah Cherry.

Smith won at 150 with five pins and a tech fall, outscoring his foes 45-8. He pinned Glenpool’s Michael Lohr in the finals and also reached a big milestone in the quarterfinals when he pinned Glenpool freshman Kevin Gruse for his 100th career victory.

“I watched all these other guys grow up and do it so it feels nice,” said Smith.

The senior has been battling a knee injury since the Jenks tournament but doesn’t see that slowing him down in the postseason.

“I’m feeling good, healthier, a lot better now. I’m excited about that too.”

Trotter didn’t give up a single point till the 157-pound finals, where he earned a 5-3 decision over Sapulpa’s Blake Hurt.

Harris was equally dominant at heavyweight, only giving up one point in the whole tournament before winning a 6-0 decision against Enid’s Seth Melvin.

David Ritchey, Jayden Pait, and Ethan White finished as runners-up. Colt Hood, Ali McCoy, and Connor Diaz placed fourth. Landon Castro and Jaden Allen placed fifth. Luke McGehee placed sixth.

The Sandites were also missing several starters in Hudson Sheppard, Zander Grigsby, Jesse Moore, and Matthew Moore, making the team title even more remarkable.

“The ones we brought, they were the ones who stepped up and wrestled hard,” said Bowling.

“Coach (Earl) Shockley does a good job of setting up JV duals and JV tournaments, so those guys are constantly wrestling. It’s a next-man-up mentality.”

Smith says the team spirits are high and feels confident going into Dual State and Regionals.

“We’re a lot happier than we have been in the past, more of a team than anything else.”

“He’s a great team leader,” Bowling said of Smith. “How he goes, that’s how the rest of the team’s gonna go. He sets the tone for us. He’s the leader in the room and out of the room so he’s a good one to have.”

Junior High

The Sand Springs boys placed seventh at the Junior High Allstate Tournament in Oklahoma City.

Ryley Kester and Kaden Pope placed third, Isaac Sensintaffar placed fourth, and Jaxon Grigsby and Kasen McAffrey placed sixth.

For the girls: Rylee Allen placed fourth and Stefanie Ortiz placed sixth.

Sandite Sports Weekly Roundup: Volleyball Sweeps Bartlesville on Senior Night

Cross Country

Freshman Taigh Wright led the varsity boys to a 10th place finish at the Holland Hall invitational, Saturday, September 17th. Wright ran the 5K in 19:45.14 for 37th place.

The varsity girls finished in 11th place, led by Kelsi Hilton with a 15th place performance in 22:47.78.

Wyatt Shaw led the junior high boys to a 9th place finish, running the two-mile in 12:59.93 for 30th place. Alliyah Watts placed 100th for the girls in 17:56.76.

The elementary boys took 8th place in the one-mile run, led by Kellen Adkins with a time of 6:35.03 for 8th. The elementary girls took 9th, led by Sophie Grona with a 7:33.32 mile for 10th place.

The Sandites competed at the OSU Cowboy Jamboree on Saturday, September 24th. Neither the boys nor girls had enough finishers to earn a team place.

Gracie Gibson led the girls with a time of 25:04.6 for 162nd place. Rafi Huff led the boys, finishing in 20:48.1 for 200th place.

Softball

The Charles Page High School softball team (20-14, 8-6) went 5-3 in a busy week, improving to third in district play.

The Sandites lost 8-4 to Bixby (12-15, 7-6) on Monday after committing an uncharacteristic six errors, but paid the Spartans back with a 7-2 road win on Thursday.

Addison Hughes (11-10) pitched both games, striking out eight on Monday and 11 on Thursday.

On Tuesday the Sandites won a district double-header against Putnam City North (8-22, 3-11). Kelsi Hilton (9-4) got the win in game one with four hits and five strikeouts and Hughes tossed eight strikeouts with two hits in the sequel.

Sand Springs played at the Tahlequah festival over the weekend, opening with a 5-2 loss to Edmond Deer Creek (25-9) but won the second game 4-2 against Moore (21-7).

Kenzie King was 2-for-3 at the plate against Moore with a run and two RBI.

On Saturday they won 9-2 against Fort Gibson (14-17) but lost 6-4 to Grove (20-7). Kelby Little was 3-for-3 against Fort Gibson with three RBI, and King had a team-high three runs.

Hilton and Little were both .474 at the plate on the week. Hilton led in slugging average at .789 with two doubles and two triples, and had a team-high five RBI. Morgan Rector led the team in runs with six.

Hughes maintained a 2.57 ERA in 32 ⅔ innings while Hilton had a 2.23 ERA in 15 ⅔ innings.

Sand Springs has two games left in the regular season: Monday at Sperry (21-7) and Thursday at home against Oologah (9-18). Regional tournament assignments should be released on Friday.

Volleyball

Sand Springs (11-14, 2-4) picked up its second conference win of the season on Tuesday in a 3-0 Senior Night sweep of Bartlesville (9-9, 2-4) but ended the week on a five match losing streak.

The Sandites competed in the Bishop McGuinness tournament over the weekend and lost to Edmond Deer Creek, Bishop McGuinness, Choctaw, and Yukon, with a second loss to Choctaw in the seventh place match.

Sand Springs will travel to Muskogee (8-7, 0-6) Tuesday and Booker T. Washington (8-11, 3-3) on Thursday.

Football

The junior high football teams continued their undefeated seasons with wins against Sapulpa on Tuesday. The freshmen won 48-6 and the eighth graders won 46-6 as both teams moved to 4-0.

Wrestling

The Church That Matters tailgate party raised $2660 for the wrestling program at Friday night’s Homecoming football game and the wrestling program pledged 50% to the family of Ethan Gibson to help with his funeral.

Volleyball Wins 2022 Sandite Invitational

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This story was originally written for the Sand Springs Leader.

The Sandite volleyball team didn’t win its first match of the Skylar Jackson era, but it did win the next six in a row.

After falling 3-0 to Union (1-1) in Tuesday’s home opener, the Sandites bounced back with a 3-1 victory Thursday at Glenpool (4-2) before winning their home tournament over the weekend.

Sand Springs lost close sets of 27-25, 25-19, and 27-25 to Union but won 28-26, 23-25, 25-20, and 25-16 against the Warriors. 

“Union’s really good this year,” said Jackson. “To be new to a program but to have the girls buy in so much and be so close with such a good team, I think showed them that they really are capable of doing a lot of good things.”

Good things indeed. The Sandites won their home tournament for the third time in the past four years, and this time it was against all 6A teams.

Sand Springs (6-2) defeated Ponca City (3-3), Enid (1-6), Southmoore (4-3), Choctaw (5-2), and Lawton (0-7) before falling to Yukon (3-5) in the final match of the round-robin tournament.

“To come out ahead (at Glenpool) and then come in our own home gym and play four matches in one day and win all of those was a good testament to how hard the girls are working and how much they’re buying into what we’re doing,” said Jackson.

Jackson is in her first year at Sand Springs after taking over for her husband, Derek, who left for Claremore. She was previously an assistant coach at Broken Arrow. 

“We served really well yesterday,” said Jackson. “We received really well yesterday also. Today our middles really were able to get involved and when they were, we were firing on all cylinders.”

On Friday Sand Springs won 25-7 and 25-10 against Lawton and beat Ponca City 25-23 and 25-17. The matches against Enid and Choctaw were far closer.

Enid won the first set 26-24 before the Sandites rallied 25-23 and 25-21. They defeated the Yellowjackets 25-22 in set one before falling 25-17 and rallied to win the third 25-17.

On Saturday the Sandites won 2-1 against Southmoore, 25-19, 19-25, and 25-23, to clinch the tournament title by virtue of head-to-head against Choctaw, who also finished 5-1. 

In the final match, Yukon won the first set 25-19, Sand Springs won the second 25-21, and the Millers rallied to a 25-20 victory to spoil the home team’s streak.

“I still think we struggle a little bit with some confidence at times,” said Jackson. “Size-wise, we’re middle of the road 6A and I think just not having the winningest record all the time can be a confidence buster.”

Historically, the Sandites have been one of the lesser teams in 6A, but have finished with winning records in two of the past three seasons.

“I think playing so close with Union and then beating Glenpool and then playing as well as we did shows the girls that we can do those things. But I think that we had a little bit of a slip of confidence there in that first set.”

Senior middle blocker Layla Lenex was named the tournament MVP and senior libero Olivia DeWitt also made the All-Tournament team.

Payton Robbins, a senior outside hitter, was also one of the top contributors for the Sandites. 

“She gets the ball often and she does a good job not only swinging but also in defense and service too,” said Jackson. “She’s really stepped up her defensive game this season and that’s huge for her.”

Knocking off a bunch of 6A teams from the west side of the state should help the Sandites earn a decent place in the rankings next week, but more importantly it’ll help sharpen them up before a busy Week 2.

Sand Springs will travel to Owasso (1-0) for a conference battle on Tuesday before competing at the Muskogee tournament over the weekend.

“We’re going to really work on blocking,” said Jackson.”I think if we’d have been a little bit sharper up at the net today in that Yukon match we would’ve shut them down a lot sooner and gotten them a little bit more frustrated. So we’re going to definitely work on blocking, which will be a big deal against Owasso.They’ve got some big hitters.

“And then working our middles in transition. If we can get them involved, it’s a good day. So we’ve got to be able to get them involved a little more often, even on not the best passes.”

Sand Springs will look for its first win against the Rams since 2017 when the match kicks off Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.

Sand Springs Sports Roundup: Girls Basketball wins first playoff

This story was originally written for the Sand Springs Leader.

Inclement weather couldn’t stymie the Sandites for long, and the Charles Page High School girls basketball team rolled to a 70-50 win against Muskogee in the first round of the regional playoffs Saturday night at the Ed Dubie Field House.

In a game that was originally scheduled for Thursday, the 6A-East No. 2 Sandites (20-3) won their eighth consecutive game to extend their season by an extra week against No. 15 Muskogee (2-14).

“They’re a good team,” said head coach Josh Berry. “They make shots and they don’t quit. You look at their record and you don’t see what they really are. They’re well-coached and they’re going to play hard.”

The Roughers held pace with the Sandites throughout the first half, entering the second quarter 12-12 and leading by as much as 23-19.

Journey Armstead and Kiaryn Taylor hit back-to-back three pointers to end the first half with a 35-29 advantage, however, and the Sandites never trailed again.

“We had everybody in foul trouble in the first half, but once we got in and got settled down, I think everything took care of itself,” said Berry. 

The two teams combined for 37 fouls overall and 22 in the first half, with 45 free throw opportunities. Muskogee made the most of their trips to the charity stripe, shooting 14-of-18, while the Sandites went 18-of-27.

Zhayn Mayes scored 17 to lead the Roughers, followed by Akira Eubanks with 16, but the Sandites had three double-digit scorers.

Armstead led all scorers with 20 points, followed by Hailey Jackson with 15 and Taiona Morris with 10. Morris also collected a team-high five steals, and Layne Kirkendoll added 9 points with 9 rebounds. 

“Layne did good tonight,” said Berry. “Kiaryn played well, Yanni (Taiona Morris) played well. It’s about that - different people stepping up and finding a way to win and I think we did that tonight. I think that’s a team effort.”

Next up for the Sandites will be a rematch with No. 7 Putnam City North (12-10), who won its game 53-47 in double overtime against No. 10 Ponca City (9-12). 

The Lady Sandites previously beat the Panthers 50-33 at the Jenks/Union tournament in January.

“Hopefully we guard and don’t let them shoot some open shots, and make some shots,” said Berry. 

“Tonight we made some shots and we haven’t done that in a long time either. We made quite a few threes. We need to continue to do that, continue to share the basketball, and play for each other.”

The regional championship will be played Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. at Sand Springs, and both teams will advance to the area playoffs.

Boys Basketball

The No. 14 Sand Springs boys (5-17) had their Regional playoff game postponed to Monday at 8:00 p.m. The Sandites will play No. 3 Putnam City West (17-5) in an elimination game.

Wrestling

Mitchell Smith (30-7) placed third in the 145-pound bracket at the OSSAA 6A State Championship on Saturday. It was the junior’s third trip to state but his first medal, and he was the only Sandite to earn a medal.

Smith won his first match 2-1 but gave up a 7-4 decision to West Champion Layton Schneider in the semifinals. In consolation he won 6-3 against Bixby’s Caden Kelley and 3-2 against Yukon’s Boston Powell.

David Ritchey and Zander Grigsby both won their wrestle-in matches, Carter Goodman won his quarterfinal, and Blake Jones won a consolation match to help the team to a 13th place finish overall.

Six of the Sandites’ state qualifiers will return next year, with Jones being the lone senior. Jones wrapped up his career with an 82-42 record as a four-time State qualifier. 

Track and Field

Several Sandite alums competed in the Summit League Indoor Championship for Oral Roberts University on Saturday. 

Aden Baughman placed 8th in the 800 meter run. Joel Mackey placed 14th in the 60 meter and 15th in the 200. Mitchell Mefford placed 14th in the weight throw. 

Soccer 

The Lady Sandite soccer team is off to a strong start in preseason action, winning 4-0 against Sapulpa before sweeping the Skiatook scrimmage tournament and outscoring their foes 11-0. They suffered their first loss 1-0 at Owasso. 

The season will officially begin March 1st at home with non-district matches against Tulsa NOAH. The girls will play at 6:00 p.m. followed by the boys at 8:00 p.m.

Baseball

Sandite baseball took its first preseason loss, 13-5, at Owasso. The Sandites previously routed Glenpool 16-5, Tahlequah 8-0, and Lawton MacArthur 11-0, and tied Westmoore 2-2. Their season will begin March 1st at Guthrie.

Sandite Athletics Weekly Roundup: Softball upsets Bixby

A version of this story was originally written for the Sand Springs Leader.

Cross Country

The Sand Springs elementary cross country team competed at Bishop Kelley Tuesday, September 21st and took third place in a combined boys and girls run. Chloe Grona led the team with a second-place finish, running a 5:48 mile. Josie Grona placed seventh in 6:11 and Jacob Lovins placed eighth in 6:12.

Fast Pitch Softball

Sandite Softball (15-13) wrapped up district action with a 3-2 upset of Bixby Thursday, holding the Spartans scoreless after the first inning. 

JoLee McNally scored on a double from Lauren Hammock in the first inning, then hit a triple in the third inning and tied it up on a double from Avery Tanner. Kelsi Hilton scored the go-ahead run on a single from Morgan Rector in the sixth. 

Bixby put two runners on in the seventh, but Tanner scooped a groundball and made the throw to first to end the game. Hilton got the win in the pitcher’s circle with seven hits, two strikeouts, and three walks. 

Sand Springs then competed at the Tahlequah-NSU festival and went 1-3. 

Raegan Rector pitched a 10-5 win against Jay on Saturday, giving up only four hits and three walks with five strikeouts. Hilton led the offense, batting 2-of-3 for two runs, two RBI, and a double. 

The Sandites lost games of 11-4 to Tuttle, 6-0 to Moore, and 10-2 to Edmond Deer Creek. 

They will wrap up the regular season Thursday on the road at Oologah-Talala. Regional Assignments will be released Friday. 

Fishing 

The Charles Page High School fishing club competed at the Oklahoma Bass Nation trail events on Broken Bow Lake September 18th and 19th. 

Mack Taylor and Parker Haling placed ninth on Saturday, catching five fish weighing 8.77 pounds. Then on Sunday they caught five fish weighing 8.06 pounds for tenth place. They are currently sixth overall in this season’s standings. 

Nate Griffin and Jaxon Trotter caught two fish weighing 3.31 pounds on Saturday for 33rd place. 

The next OBN trail event will be October 16th on Skiatook Lake. 

Volleyball

Class 6A No. 16 Sand Springs (13-17 overall, 2-4 conference) went 3-3 last week, winning a 3-0 conference sweep of Muskogee on Tuesday before competing at the Bishop McGuinness tournament over the weekend.

In Tuesday’s match against Muskogee Payton Robbins scored 10 kills and five aces, Teyha Johnson recorded 19 assists, Jacelyn Smith scored eight kills, Charley Fahland made nine digs and scored four aces, and Layla Lenex had four blocks. All five of Robbins’s aces came in a 9-0 run during set two. The Sandites easily dismantled the Roughers 25-13, 25-9, and 25-11. 

In Oklahoma City the Sandites won 2-0 against Choctaw and Yukon, but fell 2-0 to Bishop McGuinness, Deer Creek, and Carl Albert.

Sandite Volleyball will return to action Thursday, September 30th with a conference match against Booker T. Washington at home.