Lady Sandites Place Second at Strother, Kiya Dover Wins Gold

The Charles Page High School girls powerlifting team came up 28 points shy of defending its title at the Strother Invitational on January 19th, but a finished a strong second place behind Kiya Dover’s gold medal.

Dover won despite being quite undersized for her weight class, with top marks in all three events. The heavyweight benched 145 pounds and deadlifted 325 for close victories, but blew out the competition with a 315-pound squat that was 65 pounds heavier than the runner-up’s mark.

Gracey Massey placed third overall at 198. She was third in squat at 255 pounds, fifth in bench at 125 pounds, and second in deadlift at 285.

Bailey Doughty was third overall at 220 but won two of her events. Doughty had the top bench at 120 pounds and the top deadlift at 295, while squatting 210 for fourth.

Paisley Brown placed fourth at 123, squatting 155 pounds and benching 80 for second place in each division and deadlifting 145 for ninth.

Kelsi Hilton was fourth at 157 with a 200-pound squat for fifth and a 115-pound bench for third. Her 265-pound deadlift was sixth.

Hannah George placed fifth at 168 with the best bench of her division at 120 pounds. She was also fifth in deadlift at 240 pounds and sixth in squat at 200.

Kadence Grant placed eighth at 168 with a 205-pound squat for fourth, a 95-pound bench, and a 205-pound deadlift. Tessa Urrey was ninth at 168 with a 170 squat, 105 bench, and 220 deadlift.

Jocelyn Wright placed sixth at 145 with a 190 squat, 95 bench, and 230 deadlift. Laila Mirza was ninth in the same class with the same squat and bench, but deadlifted 215.

Preslie Graham was sixth at 198 with a fifth-place 210-pound squat, a 105-pound bench, and a 230-pound deadlift. Amaia Harp was seventh with a 160 squat, a 95-pound bench, and a 220 deadlift.

Callie Brown placed ninth at 220 with a 115-pound squat, 75-pound bench, and 205-pound deadlift. Brooklyn Buckaloo placed tenth at 132, squatting 175, benching 100, and deadlifting 190.

The junior high team won the Strother meet for the second consecutive year, led by Marlee Dixon in first place at 181 pounds.

Dixon had the top bench at 105 pounds, the top deadlift at 215, and was second in squat at 195.

Kayleigh Felsinger was third at heavyweight with fourth-place finishes in squat and deadlift. She squatted 180, benched 90, and deadlifted 225.

Adelynn Ray finished sixth at 168 but had the top mark in deadlift at 250 pounds. She squatted 135 and was fifth in bench at 95.

The junior high also compete at the Little Axe Invitational on Wednesday and placed third.

Cheyenne Meritt placed second and Ambrielle Chambers was third at 108 pounds. Meritt squatted 105, benched 65, and deadlifted 140 for second, fifth, and second, respectively. Chambers squatted 100, benched 80, and deadlifted 125 for third, first, and third.

Dixon was second at 181, squatting 200 for second, benching 115 for first, and deadlifting 225 for third.

Taliah Rushing placed third at heavyweight with a 175-pound squat, a 100-pound bench for fifth, and a 300-pound deadlift for third.

Ray placed fourth at 165, squatting 145 for fourth, benching 90 for third, and deadlifting 260 for first.

The Lady Sandites will return to action in a few weeks at the McAlester event on February 16th.

Sandite Weekly Sports Roundup: Girls Powerlifting Wins Meet, Wrestling Qualifies 9 for State

The Sand Springs boys wrestling team took fifth place at the OSSAA 6A-East Regional Championship Saturday in Jenks, their highest mark since 2020.

The team qualified nine wrestlers for this weekend’s State Championship, the most since 2018.

The Sandites had a tough regional with nationally ranked Stillwater and Bixby, as well as perennial powerhouse Broken Arrow leading the pack. Owasso edged out the Sandites for fourth place with 147.5 points to 141.5.

Kase Skaggs was the lone finalist with a 6-0 semifinal upset against second-seeded Ponca City junior Jimmy Swenson to avenge a district loss at 106. In the finals he fell to nationally ranked Aydan Thomas from Stillwater.

Mitchell Smith took third place at 150 pounds, winning a 2-1 overtime tiebreaker against Broken Arrow’s Garrett Stinchcomb in the placement round.

Mason Harris placed third at heavyweight with a 4-2 sudden victory takedown against Broken Arrow’s Michael Cook.

Jaxon Trotter placed fourth at 157, losing only to nationally ranked LaDarion Lockett from Stillwater before medical forfeiting the placement round.

David Ritchey, Jayden Pait, Jesse Moore, Ethan White, and Hudson Sheppard placed fifth.

The State tournament will be held Friday and Saturday at Jim Norick Arena at the State Fairgrounds in Oklahoma City.

The Lady Sandites didn’t have any State qualifiers in their first year, placing 42nd out of 64 schools at the OSSAA East Regional.

The Keystone Kids had several top performers at the OKWA Youth State Championship, placing third in Open 8U and ninth in Open 15U.

Hudson Waag, Hagan Wolfenberger, and Ryley Kester won State titles; Sutton Hawley was runner-up; Mason Londo, Karson Waag, and Jace Simms placed third.

Girls Powerlifting

The Lady Sandite powerlifting team won its second meet of the season at Chandler, beating the home team 161 to 110 in team points.

Jaden Jordan won her third meet of the year at heavyweight, taking first in bench at 160 pounds, first in deadlift at 390, and second in squat at 360.

Madison Thompson was runner-up at 220, placing second in squat at 305, second in bench at 150, and fourth in deadlift at 315.

Addily Shotwell was runner-up at 181, placing second in squat at 235, second in bench at 125, and fourth in deadlift at 270.

Gracie Worthington placed third and Olivia Alexander, Bailey Doughty, Kelsi Hilton, and Melanie Skelly placed fourth.

The girls will compete at the Regional Championship in Miami on Tuesday the 28th.

Soccer

The CPHS soccer teams started the preseason with a scrimmage sweep at Grove.

The boys won 4-0 behind two goals from Brian Boyles and one goal apiece from Eli Bise and Dawson Puckett. The girls won 3-0 with a hat trick from Ava Watts.

Both teams will return to action with home scrimmages against Collinsville Tuesday at 5:00 p.m.

Baseball

The Sandite baseball team won its first two scrimmages of the year 6-0 against Mannford and 18-10 against Westmoore.

Gage Elliott and Wyatt Rutledge combined for a nine-strikeout one-hitter against the Pirates on Friday and Rhen Rutledge went 1-of-2 at the plate with a triple, 3 RBI, and a run.

Jackson Turney, Dom Ornelas, and Alex Dudley had two hits apiece against the Jaguars, with Ornelas scoring a 3RBI homer.

The Sandites will travel to Owasso, Glenpool, and Edmond Santa Fe next week and will host Bartlesville on Tuesday and Bixby on Friday.

Sandite Weekly Sports Roundup: Basketball Sweeps Roughers, Athletes Sign LOIs

Sandite basketball swept the Muskogee Roughers Friday night with the varsity boys winning 72-65 while the girls won 63-41.

The 6A-East No. 6 Lady Sandites (12-5, 5-3) never trailed against No. 14 Muskogee. It was still a close game at 39-31 entering the fourth but the Sandites steamrolled the Roughers 24-10 in the final stanza.

Hailey Jackson scored 24 points to lead all scorers, Taiona “Yanni” Morris added 13, Sakauri Wilson had 9, and three different Sandites scored 5 apiece.

“We’re starting to play better as a unit,” said head coach Josh Berry. “We have more people stepping up.”

Sand Springs will have to cover six games over the final two weeks after meetings with Bartlesville and Booker T. Washington were postponed due to weather. This is the second time the Washington game has been rescheduled.

“This is our second game in 17 days,” said Berry. “It’s a bit different from when we start the season out with eight games in like 14 days.”

“We’re rested and we’re ready to go. It’s nothing that we can control so we just try to get better.”

The No. 11 Sandite boys (9-8, 2-6) snapped a five-game conference skid and got back above .500 overall with a win over the No. 15 Roughers (3-13, 0-9).

The Sandites led 34-27 at halftime but a seven-point run put the Roughers up 45-44 entering the final stanza.

Jamarian Ficklin tied it for the final time at 52-52 but Kooper Kelly hit a pair of free throws and layed up on a steal to put his team ahead for the final three minutes of the game.

Kelly tied his career-high with 20 points to lead all scorers while Luke Hooper also had a career night with 15 points.

“Any conference win, especially on the road, is a good feeling,” said head coach Eric Savage.

“In the past we’ve kind of lost our composure. A couple of times this wear we gave up the lead and never got it back. We showed some growth tonight and were able to weather the storm and get back in control late in the fourth quarter.”

Sand Springs will travel to Bixby on Tuesday and Bartlesville on Thursday before hosting Sapulpa Friday night.

Signing Day

School may have been canceled, but the festivities couldn’t be stopped Wednesday morning at the Ed Dubie Field House. Sand Springs celebrated 10 student-athletes who signed letters of intent to continue their careers at the collegiate level.

Many of the players will get to enjoy Sand Springs connections on their new rosters.

Kyle Morrall, Jacob Blevins, and Drake Fain signed with Northwestern Oklahoma State University to play Division II football. There they will be reunited with former Sandite assistant coach Jason Medrano, who recently took over as Offensive Coordinator for the Rangers.

Brody Rutledge signed to play Division II football at Northeastern State University. There he will join former Sand Springs teammates Gabe Brown, Landon Hendricks, and Blake Jones.

Dominic Ornelas and Jabe Schlehuber signed to play junior college baseball together at Northern Oklahoma College in Enid.

Carson Sargent signed to play Division II soccer at Rogers State University, where she will join former teammates Ali Day and Karsen Lynch.

Payton Robbins signed to play NAIA volleyball at Friends University in Kansas, where she’ll be reunited with Sandites Tehya Johnson, Charley Fahland, and Kasidy Holland.

Madori Bland signed with the stunt team at Drury University, a Division II program in Missouri.

Coleman Hight signed to play NAIA golf at Southwestern College in Kansas.

Baseball

Freshman quarterback Easton Webb has been getting lots of attention as a football prospect, but on Friday he announced his commitment to Oklahoma State University as a baseball player before ever playing a varsity minute.

Sand Springs will kick off the preseason with a home scrimmage against Sapulpa on the 16th at 4:30 p.m.

Girls Powerlifting

The Sand Springs girls powerlifting team took second place at the All-American Lift-a-thon in Shawnee Saturday with two champions. The Sandites had 137 team points, just behind Choctaw with 141.

Madison Thompson won the 220 weight class, sweeping all three events. She benched 140, squatted 285, and deadlifted 295.

Jaden Jordan won at heavyweight, taking first in squat at 335 pounds, first in deadlift at 375, and third in bench at 155.

Melani Skelly placed third, Gracie Worthington placed fourth, and Bailey Doughty and Kiyah Dover placed fifth.