Sand Springs Elementary Wrestling wins State Championship with 20 finalists

/ Lloyd Noble Center/

Blake Jones came in State Runner-Up at the OKUSA State Championship this past weekend. (Photo: Scott Emigh).

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Top-ten Team scores:

  1. Sand Springs (377)
  2. Stillwater (322)
  3. Mutang (320)
  4. Edmond (306) 
  5. Catoosa (302)
  6. Moore (232)
  7. Sperry (199)
  8. Marlow (149)
  9. Collinsville (129)
  10. Southmoore (122)

While the Charles Page High School wrestling team was winning their first Dual State Wrestling Championship in Shawnee this past weekend, the Sand Springs Team Big wrestling program was winning the Oklahoma USA Youth Wrestling League State Championship an hour down the road in Norman. 48 Sandite elementary wrestlers competed at the event, twenty made the finals, and eleven walked away as State Champions. Needless to say, the future of Sand Springs wrestling is as bright as ever.

Youth wrestling is not split up by school size, but has five age divisions and two classifications. Division One is for ages six and under, Division Two is ages eight and under, Division Three is ages ten and under, Division Four is ages twelve and under, and Division Five is ages fifteen and under. Inexperienced wrestlers compete at the Novice level until they win a certain number of medals for their age division, then they move up to the Open classification. 

Balance Johnson (10-0) competed in Division Three Open at 110 pounds and took first place with three pins. He topped Aidan Hays (Broken Arrow) in 2:04, Logan Richard (Mustang) in 2:03, and Treg Bowman (Stillwater) in 2:55.

Rhett Peak (22-9) competed in Division Four Open at 76 pounds and took first place. He received a medical forfeit from Will Simms (Bellator), then pinned Jaxon Klaassen (Weatherford) in 0:44. In the finals he topped Josey Jernegan (Sperry) 7-2 in sudden victory overtime. 

Bentley Cole (13-2) competed in Division One Open at 37 pounds and took first place. He majored Gabriel Sharp (Broken Arrow) 12-1 in the semifinals, then edged out teammate Tabor Reiss 9-8 in the finals.

Jayden Bussell (16-3) competed in Division One Open at 55 pounds and took first place. He defeated Elijah Davis (Moore) 7-0 in the semifinals and came out on top of a 6-4 sudden victory decision against Cash Province (Edmond).

Will Meredith (24-5) competed in Division Two Open at 43 pounds and took first place. He defeated Ty Walter (Bixby) 9-3 in the semifinal, then pinned Landon Woodard (Sperry) in 2:37. 

Clayton Giddens (39-2) competed in Division Four Open at 64 pounds and took first place. He teched Caydon Miller (Sapulpa) 16-0, then majored Lawson Knox (Marlow) 8-0.

Owen Martin (26-3) competed in Division Four Open at 67 pounds and took first place with less than a minute on the mat. He pinned Blake Hawthorne (Bethany) in 0:30 and Andrew Havens (Sperry) in 0:22.

Ethan White (10-16) competed in Division Four Open at 120 pounds and took first place. He teched Gatlin Wilson (Stillwater) 16-1, then topped Corey Chilcoat (Catoosa) 4-2 in sudden victory. 

Blake Jones (23-7) competed in Division Five Open at 100 pounds and took second place. He pinned Justus Pribyl (Little Axe) in 2:18, then topped Parker Brown (Tuttle) 5-2 in the quarterfinal. In the semis he was defeated 4-2 by Levi Buckridge (Bethany), but he snapped back with a 5-2 decision over Dregen Murray (Little Axe) and pinned Manny Rogers (Del City) in 3:29 to win the consolations. In the second-place challenge match he majored Reese Davis (Tuttle) 11-3. 

Asher Giddens (16-9) competed in Division One Open at 43 pounds and took second place. He won his quarterfinal match against Daniel Porter (Sperry) 15-9, but fell in 0:21 to Gannon Wilson (Catoosa) in the semifinals. In the consolation bracket he topped Jon Zerzavy (Cache) 9-7, then won the consolation finals 12-9 over Porter. In the second-place challenge match he defeated Tristyn Ulloa (Lawton) 5-2.

Grady Mittasch (41-10) competed in Division Three Open at 67 pounds and took second place. He pinned Cason Rumley (Tuttle) in 0:27 in the quarterfinal, but was edged out 11-10 by Blade Walden (Muskogee). In the consolations he majored Thomas Webb (Davis) 12-0 and topped Logan Hargrove (Catoosa) 6-0. He challenged Keller Kizarr (Marlow) for second place and prevailed 6-0.

Michael Johnson (3-1) competed in Division Three Open at 58 pounds and took second place. He pinned teammate Zander Grigsby in 2:59 and Kylor Edwards (Moore) in 2:45 before being edged out 2-1 by Ashton Davis (Muskogee) in the finals. In the challenge match he went into overtime with Javin Douglas (Bethany), but got the takedown for a 2-0 sudden victory decision. 

Tabor Reiss (17-3) competed in Division One Open at 37 pounds and took second place. He pinned Ivy Mullin (Stillwell) in 0:18 in the semifinal, but fell 9-8 to teammate Bentley Cole in the finals. In the second-place challenge match he majored Gabriel Sharp (Broken Arrow) 14-1.

Jaxon Grigsby (27-6) competed in Division Two Open at 49 pounds and took second place. He pinned Axton Vanbrunt (Westmoore) in 3:19, then topped Revin Fipps (Stillwater) 7-5 in sudden victory overtime before falling to Mason Burnham in 2:27 in the finals.

Promised Johnson (4-3) competed in Division Two Open at 64 pounds and took second place. He rolled over Max Harland (Berryhill) with a 17-1 technical fall, then topped Juan Ybarra (Altus) 4-0 before falling 5-1 to Daxton Sullivan (Bristow) in the finals.

Christian Forbes (14-9) competed in Division Five Open at 76 pounds and took second place. He pinned Riddick Nash (Del City) in 1:23, then topped Kaden Smith (Mustang) 5-0 before falling 10-0 to Guy Clevenger (Catoosa) in the finals. 

Dariuz Black (26-14) competed in Division Three Open at 73 pounds and took third place. He narrowly topped Maddax Mobly (Sulphur) 2-1 in the quarterfinals, but fell 3-1 to Hudson Sheppard (Cushing) in the semis. In the consolation bracket he topped Kaden Wallace (Moore) 2-0 and Charles Shafer (Cache) 5-4.

Hunter Spencer (25-11) competed in Division Two Open at 61 pounds and took third place. He pinned Silas Keeling (Weatherford) in 0:29 and Levi Dickison (Edmond) in 0:41, then topped Caden Johnson (Stillwater) with a 4-2 decision before falling 9-0 to Jaedan Adams (Stillwater) in the finals. In the second-place challenge match he was topped 4-2 by Gunner Murray (Claremore). 

Riley Magee (7-4) competed in Division Five Open at 190 pounds and took fourth place. He pinned Nathan Wahl (Blanchard) in 1:15 before falling 4-2 to Keegan Demario (Del City) in the quarterfinal. In the consolations he pinned Chubba Davis (Harrah) in 1:31, Kevin Davis (Muskogee) in 1:57, and Asher Havens (Sperry) in 2:54. In the finals he was defeated 4-1 in a rematch with Demario. 

Robert Burke (22-8) competed in Division Three Open at 64 pounds and took fourth place. He dominated James Shelton (Sperry) 15-0, then topped Devon Miller (Stillwater) 2-0 in the quarterfinal before falling 5-2 to Bryson Humphries (Catoosa). In the consolations he topped Dylan Abbott (Sperry) 4-2 in sudden victory overtime, but fell 3-2 to Miller in an overtime rematch for third place. 

Jaxon Trotter (26-24) competed in Division Three Open at 80 pounds and took fifth place. He majored Ethan Finch (Del City) 10-2 before falling 7-2 to Tyler McCall (Catoosa) in the quarterfinal. In the consolations he pinned Coalten Kennedy (Sulphur) in 2:32 and topped Christian Morales (Highlander) 6-0 before falling 10-1 to Hayden Yocham (Bristow) in the semis. In his placement match he prevailed 13-3 over Ethan Finch (Del City).

Carter Wood (13-9) competed in Division Two Open at 67 pounds and took fifth place. He defeated Jakiyas Peterson (Westmoore) in the quarterfinals, but fell 10-5 to Rebel Doiron (Tironook) in the semis. In the consolation bracket he was defeated 6-1 by Brady Larson (Del City), but he majored Peterson 11-1 in the placement match.

Matthew Moore (24-6) competed in Division Three Novice at 58 pounds and took first place. He defeated Miguel Hope (Muskogee) 4-0, pinned Dirk Johnson (Tecumseh) in 0:25, and majored Carson Owen (Ardmore) 8-0.

Ryder Barnes (10-5) competed in Division Four Novice at 105 pounds and took first place. He defeated Skyler Bean (Mustang) 7-0, Eathin Kennedy (Sulphur) 9-4, and Mort Barber (Harrah) 11-3.

Ryker Collins (7-5) competed in Division Four Novice at 160 pounds and took first place. He pinned Lane Gourley (Little Axe) in 1:14 and Owen Pazzo (J4) in 2:57, then topped Gavin Selanders (Guthrie) 6-2.

Jesse Moore (15-10) competed in Division Three Novice at 76 pounds and took second place. He defeated Kasen Harris (Comanche) 5-1 and pinned Wyatt Heuer (Harrah) in 0:37 before falling 7-5 in sudden victory overtime to Clay McKiddy (Cushing). 

Tanner Copeland (14-2) competed in Division Two Novice at 61 pounds and took third place. He was pinned in 1:12 by Hagen Sims (Davis) in the opening round, but rebounded with four-straight victories to win the consolation bracket. He defeated Creed Rogers (Davis) 6-0, then pinned Braylon Mullins (Southmoore) in 2:29, Andrew Kunkle (Catoosa) in 1:30, and Gage Goodwin (Tuttle) in 1:14. 

Samuel Moore (28-12) competed in Division One Novice at 49 pounds and took fourth place. He pinned Jordan Carey (Broken Arrow) in 0:19 and Ryker Williams (Sperry) in 0:23 before falling 5-3 to Jack Austin (Marlow) in sudden victory overtime. In the consolation bracket he majored Corbin Alexander (Broken Arrow) 15-6 but fell 5-3 to Tucker Alberty (Sapulpa) in the placement round.

Landyn Barnes (11-6) lost his opening match 4-1 to Aiden Cox (Southmoore), but majored John McDougal (Bristow) and pinned Aiden Terhune (Southmoore) in 0:21. In the consolation semifinals he got payback against Cox with a fall at 1:56, but was in-turn pinned in 0:46 by Chance Fisher (Tuttle) in the placement match.

Skyler Wood (18-4) competed in Division Two Novice at 64 pounds and took fifth place. He fell 8-0 to Dimitri Kizer (Del City) in the opening round, then pinned Louden McDoulett (Little Axe) in the consolations. In the semifinals he fell 8-5 to Peyton Heuer (Harrah), but he won his placement match with a 13-3 major decision over Ryder Trepton (Ponca City).

The State Tournament concludes the Youth Wrestling season, and it has been a good one for Sand Springs. Team Big crowned nine champions at the Cushing Halloween Takedown, eleven at the Claremore Youth Invitational, six at the Cleveland Novice Tournament, three at the Catoosa Tournament, seven at the Joe Zamora Open, four at the Team Neo Tournament, sixteen at the Sapulpa Tournament, two at the Battle for the Belt, eight at the Sperry Open, one at the Sand Springs Junior High Tournament, eight at the Owasso Tournament, twenty at the Sand Springs Team Big Tournament, three at the Collinsville Christimas Classic, eight at the Gage Underwood Memorial, one at the United State Junior Open Championship, nine at the Berryhill Tournament, twelve at the Blubuagh-Wilson Battle for Gold, eleven at the Bedlam Battle, and one at Junior High All-State.

As a team, the Sandites won the Sand Springs Junior High Tournament and the YWL State Tournament, and placed second at the Battle for Gold and the Bedlam Battle. They also came in third at the Inola Wrestling Tournament, fourth at the Sperry Open, and sixth at Junior High All State.