Laila Mirza Crowned Homecoming Queen, Lady Sandites split with Ponca City & Westmoore
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For the first time in Sandite history, the wrestling Homecoming queen was an actual wrestler. Laila Mirza was crowned in between a pair of victories as the Sandites hosted Westmoore and Ponca City on Thursday.
No. 9 ranked Sand Springs (4-2) won 42-36 against No. 13 Ponca City (0-4) before falling 54-30 to No. 6 Westmoore (3-0).
“We’ve been trying to take one dual at a time and handle Ponca City first, but we knew Westmoore was going to be tough,” said head girls coach Trent Cleveland.
“They battled us tough and ended up getting the better of us. We did have a couple of girls out of the lineup tonight. That probably played a factor but it is what it is, just got to roll with the punches.”
Sand Springs never trailed against the Wildcats, though the visitors tied things up twice and held close till the end.
Bailey Copeland took an 8-2 lead on Camila Bohon before pinning her at the 5:17 mark. Caryss Upton received a forfeit at 105 to take a 12-0 lead.
Ponca City tied things up with pins from Marli Arbona against Ambrielle Chambers and Toutie Bales against Trinity Owens.
Mirza responded by pinning Oakly Hunt and Gracie Gifford pinned Kaylie Thomas to make it 24-12, but Porscha Kreger pinned Audree Robinson and State placer Adisyn Ivers pinned Mia Bruns at 135 to tie it once again.
Kelsi Hilton gave her team its final lead by pinning Caitlin Cooper in 3:38, then Kayla Arnold and Tessa Urrey received forfeits to clinch the dual.
Fiona Schalk pinned Kadence Grant at 170 and the Wildcats received a forfeit at 190, but neither team had a heavyweight, resulting in a double forfeit.
In the second dual the Sandites never led but clawed back from a 24-0 deficit to keep things close before the Jaguars ran away with the final three weight classes.
Returning State qualifiers Kyrain and Krystan Perez pinned Copeland and Chambers, the Sandites forfeited 110, and Michaela Pinley pinned Owens to start the dual.
Mirza snapped the Jaguars’ streak by pinning Paula Galindo in just 42 seconds, then Gifford and Robinson received forfeits. The teams traded pins from there.
Zusette Arellano pinned Bruns at 135, Hilton pinned Ashlyn Hyde in 2:49, Izzy Galindo pinned Arnold, Urrey pinned Kaysie Gallope in 4:48, and Pearl Galindo pinned Grant to make it 42-30. Sand Springs forfeited 190 and 235.
Sand Springs came into the night with momentum, ranked the highest in school history after winning the Diamond State Invitational last weekend.
“We’re definitely coming off a high, going a state over and representing Oklahoma wrestling,” said Cleveland.
“It’s all kind of coming together at the right time. I couldn’t be luckier to have such a great coaching staff, support group, and wrestlers. The girls are really just coming out of the hallways just to try it out. We’ve officially got a full lineup.”
“It’s the first team title. There’s a lot of firsts going on this year and so now we’re really searching for that first State qualifier and that first State placer.”
Sand Springs also competed at the Supergirl 64 tournament at Union High School over the weekend, taking 15th place out of 46 schools.
Hilton took second place at 140 pounds, winning her pool with three pins. In the gold bracket she won two more pins, beating Bixby State qualifier Jay’la Ford in the semifinals before dropping a 5-1 decision to Yukon State qualifier Trysten Rittberger.
She was the only Lady Sandite to place in the loaded tournament.
“We try to give our girls a tough schedule so Regionals is not a shock when they go in there,” said Cleveland.
