Cole Higgins and Junior High Boys Win Ponca City Cross Country Meet

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Cole Higgins led the Sand Springs junior high boys to a first place finish out of six teams at the Kelly Chaney Cross Country Invitational in Ponca City on Tuesday.

Higgins ran the two-mile run in 11:08.67 to take the gold with a nearly four-second lead on the runner-up. Corbin Wesson and Wyatt Shaw also finished in the top-five with times of 12:21.51 and 12:27.06, respectively.

According to coach Chris Corbin, it was only the second team win in school history for the junior high boys.

The varsity boys took seventh place in the field of ten teams, led by Rafi Huff with a 5K time of 18:03.68 for 17th place out of 62 runners. The JV boys placed ninth, led by Jaxon Perry in 21:28.21.

The Lady Sandites have struggled to field a full team this year and didn’t compete in the varsity run. Laila Mirza led the junior varsity girls to a 15th place finish in 25:29.78, with freshman Blakelee Meeker just three seconds behind her.

The junior high girls had a strong finish, however, placing third out of six teams in their two-mile run.

Chloe Grona placed third in 12:29.03, closely followed by Josie Grona in 12:55.04. Mya Wagers placed sixth in 14:01.1.

Sand Springs will return to action on Saturday at the 38th annual Holland Hall Cross Country Invitational. The meet will be held on the school campus with varsity boys kicking things off at 9:00 a.m.

JV Girls 5K
15th - Laila Mirza - 25:29.79
16th - Blakelee Meeker - 25:32.95

Junior High Girls 2-Mile
3rd - Chloe Grona - 12:29.03
4th - Josie Grona - 12:55.04
6th - Mya Wagers - 14:01.10
24th - Lexi Boone - 15:47.14
30th - Vivian Burr - 16:21.28

Varsity Boys 5K
17th - Rafi Huff - 18:03.68
26th - Dallas Potter - 18:30.40
36th - Anshun Syong - 19:28.26
49th - Jessen Cox - 20:25.71
51st - Kordel Hartmann - 20:30.39

JV Boys 5K
37th - Jaxon Perry - 21:28.21
42nd - Gavin Corbin - 21:31.09
77th - Malachi Waldrup - 23:24.35
78th - Gabriel Baker - 23:26.06
90th - Rhys Foster - 24:24.65

Junior High Boys 2-Mile
1st - Cole Higgins - 11:08.67
4th - Corbin Wesson - 12:21.51
5th - Wyatt Shaw - 12:27.06
20th - Daniel Stuckey - 13:27.06
30th - Canyon Carnahan - 13:49.79
32nd - Rowen Hull - 14:01.92
37th - Presley Gunnery - 14:27.09
69th - Dean Ernest - 18:18.96

Hailey Jackson shines in All-State Basketball

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Hailey Jackson is no stranger to Chieftain Field House, having played there three times this past season.

Her high school career came to a close on the Sapulpa court just four months ago in a 63-38 defeat at the hands of Booker T. Washington in the Area playoffs.

It was a fitting setting for her final game representing Sand Springs, and this time she emerged triumphant as the Large East girls throttled the West 80-55 in the Oklahoma Coaches Association All-State game on Wednesday, July 26th.

“It feels really good (to be named All-State,” said Jackson. “It was one of my to-do’s.”

Jackson scored 6 points with 4 rebounds, 2 steals, and 1 block in 16 minutes of action from the bench.

All players saw equal playing time as both teams did full substitutions at the four-minute mark of each quarter.

Jackson entered the game with a 15-7 lead and hit her first bucket in the second quarter to go up 35-18. She added the East’s next score as well at 37-21, and scored another layup in the third to lead 59-40.

The East featured several of Jackson’s former conference foes, including Bixby’s Gracy Wernli and Gentry Baldwin, Sapulpa’s Stailee Heard, and Broken Arrow’s Taneya Howard.

It also included a former teammate in Sophia Regalado, who played varsity her freshman year at Sand Springs before finishing her high school career at Holland Hall.

“We haven’t talked that much but every once in a while we will,” said Jackson. “It was good (catching up) and hearing all of her accomplishments since freshman year.”

The two never spent any time on the court together as Regalado was part of the starting rotation. The Oklahoma Wesleyan-signee scored 3 points on an early trey to go up 8-3 and finished with 3 rebounds, a steal, and an assist.

Jackson will continue her career at Hutchinson Community College in Hutchinson, Kansas where she’ll be reunited with fellow Sandite Journey Armstead, who was also an All-State selection in 2022.

“It feels really good,” said Jackson. “I’ve been playing with her for a little while. She’s always been my point guard so it feels good to get back together with her.”

Sand Springs head coach Josh Berry was also in the stands and was introduced alongside Jackson prior to the game.

“Her growth from her freshman year to now just shows how much work she’s put in,” said Berry. “It’s just fun to see her out here enjoying it. Another All-Stater in the books for Sand Springs is always a good thing too.”

Sandite Sports Weekly Roundup: Volleyball Sweeps Bartlesville on Senior Night

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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.

Sand Springs Weekly Sports Roundup: Daton Fix wins World Team Trials, Carter Young flips to OSU

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

Varsity Cross Country traveled to Stillwater Saturday for the Cowboy Jamboree but neither the boys nor the girls had a complete lineup to earn a team place. The junior high and elementary teams competed at Holland Hall.

Jasmin Lopez led the varsity ladies in 64th place with a 5K time of 23:06. Alex Lopez led the boys in 130th place with a time of 19:33, followed by Noah Hanlon in 142nd with a time of 19:43.

Junior high boys placed seventh, led by Taigh Wright’s 12:28 two-mile run in 19th place. Junior high girls didn’t have a full lineup, but Maddyx Hampton placed 48th in 15:14.

The elementary boys placed second, led by Conner Williamson with a 6:11 mile for second place. The elementary girls placed fifth, led by Josie Grona with a 6:48 mile for sixth place.

Softball

Sand Springs (11-10, 5-6) went 2-2 in district action last week, winning a pair of 16-0 district double headers against the combined Tulsa Memorial / Booker T. Washington team before falling 9-3 to Jenks and 8-3 to Stillwater.

The Sandites needed only three innings apiece to run-rule the Tulsa team on Monday, out-hitting TPS 19-1 over the two games. 

Kelsi Hilton and Raeagn Rector combined for a no-hitter with six strikeouts in game one, and Hilton got the win. Nataley Crawford pitched all of game two and tossed six strikeouts with one hit.

The Sandites will host Bixby Thursday at 5:30 p.m. to wrap up district play.

Volleyball

The 6A No. 15 Sandites (10-14) went 3-3 overall last week and 2-3 at the Owasso tournament. They beat No. 14 Bartlesville 3-1 on the road Tuesday in conference action, then beat Ponca City 2-0 and Southmoore 3-1 in tournament play. They dropped matches of 2-0 to Owasso, 2-0 to Edmond Memorial, and 2-0 to Booker T. Washington.

Wrestling

Former 4X State Champion Sandite and current Oklahoma State wrestler Daton Fix won the 61kg freestyle world team trials in Lincoln, Nebraska. Fix outscored his opponents 41-5 with two technical falls to earn the right to represent the United States at the World Championships in Oslo, Norway this October.

In the Round of 16 he defeated Carter Young 13-2, then he beat 2018 NCAA Champion Seth Gross 11-0. In the semifinals he topped defending World Team member Tyler Graff 2-0 to earn a best-of-three finale against Nathan Tomasello. The 2015 NCAA Champion was no match for Fix, who won 8-3 and 7-0. 

After falling to Fix in his second match, Carter Young battled back to win the consolation bracket and place third. Young is also a former Sandite, winning a state title as a freshman at Sand Springs before transferring to Stillwater.

Young won his first match 8-6 over 2020 ACC Champion Jakob Camacho. In consolation he received a forfeit from Ethan Lizak, won 10-8 against 2016 NCAA Champion Nahshon Garrett, received a forfeit from Nick Suriano, then beat Graff 9-2 and Gross 15-12.

Young previously committed to and enrolled at Northwestern in Illinois, but he has now signed with Oklahoma State University instead.

Sand Springs Sandites kick off Spring sports season

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Spring sports have arrived in Sand Springs, with soccer, baseball, and track kicking off their seasons this past week. Both varsity soccer teams recorded wins to start the season. The boys won 3-2 against Glenpool on Tuesday, and the girls won 5-0 against Muskogee on Friday.

Click here to read the full story in the Sand Springs Leader.

CPHS Cross Country: Boys place 20th, Girls 22nd at Holland Hall

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The Charles Page High School Cross Country teams competed at the 35th Annual Holland Hall Invitational Saturday morning in Tulsa. The Varsity Boys placed 20th out of 26 teams and the Varsity Girls placed 22nd out of 24 teams.

Junior Sam English led the boys with a 70th place finish out of 197 runners, running the 5K in a personal-record 18:44.92. Dalton Wilcox had a PR 19:01.73 for 77th and Alejandro Lopez had a PR 19:04.20 for 82nd.

Junior Jazmin Lopez led the girls with a 34th place finish out of 178 competitors, with a personal-best time of 22:15.40. Madison Chambers had a PR 27:16.14 for 139th. Several freshmen ran their first varsity 5Ks.

The Sandite Elementary squads ran at the 8th Annual Kiefer Trojans Meet on Saturday, September 12th. The Girls placed fourth of eleven teams in the one-mile run and the Boys were third of ten teams. The Junior High teams also competed but didn’t have enough runners to earn a team place.

Chloe Grona won her second meet of the year, leading a field of 123 elementary runners with a time of 6:19.91, closely followed by Josie Grona in third place. Sophie Grona, London Velasquez, and Leighton Dial all set PRs.

Griffin Sensintaffar placed third out of 123 elementary runners with a time of 6:08.51. Waylon Roberts, Kellen Adkins, Alex Martin, Dean Earnest, and Baker Lee all set PRs.

Brynlee Durborrow placed fourth out of 181 athletes in the junior high girls race in 6:12.36. Alicia Kemp and Catherine Sarasua set PRs. Landon Buttram led the junior high team with a PR time of 6:51.11 for 78th place out of 159 boys.

Sand Springs will host the Third Annual Case Cross Country Invitational Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m. in Case Community Park.

8th Annual Kiefer Trojans Meet

Girls Elementary 1 Mile
6:19.91 - Chloe Grona - 1st
6:47.52 - Josie Grona - 3rd
7:45.96 - Sophie Grona - 32nd
7:56.29 - London Velasquez - 39th
8:18.36 - Kinley Snow - 57th
8:33.12 - Alliyah Watts - 67th
9:03.30 - Lexi Boone - 87th
9:18.06 - Leighton Dial - 99th
12:24.72 - Avery Nolen - 130th
12:32.84 - Emma Nolen - 131st

Boys Elementary 1 Mile
6:08.51 - Griffin Sensintaffar - 3rd
6:51.07 - Dax Wilcox - 17th
7:17.27 - Landon Durborrow - 30th
7:19.52 - Waylon Roberts - 33rd
7:44.28 - Kellen Adkins - 43rd
9:08.73 - Lane Tenpenny - 96th
9:21.86 - Alex Martin - 98th
9:29.87 - Dean Earnest - 105th
10:54.63 - Baker Lee - 122nd

Junior High Girls 1 Mile
6:12.36 - Brynlee Durborrow - 4th
6:52.80 - Malayna Garcia - 37th
7:33.84 - Alicia Kemp - 77th
8:46.55 - Catherine Sarasua - 147th

Junior High Boys 1 Mile
6:51.11 - Landon Buttram - 78th
7:05.78 - Rafael Huff - 95th
8:52.76 - Koby Hadley - 150th

35th Annual Holland Hall Invitational

Varsity Boys 5K
18:44.92 - Sam English - 70th
19:01.73 - Dalton Wilcox - 77th
19:04.20 - Alejandro Lopez - 82nd
22:04.09 - Zach Davis - 168th
22:30.06 - David Rigsby - 174th
23:15.00 - Michael Johnson - 183rd
27:07.38 - Kai Lamho - 193rd

Junior Varsity Boys 5K
23:31.83 - Trevor Millikin - 134th
27:41.55 - Cage Gilmore - 201st

Varsity Girls 5K
22:15.40 - Jazmin Lopez - 34th
27:16.14 - Madison Chambers - 139th
28:10.45 - Bella Ensten - 150th
30:47.05 - Emily Patton - 167th
30:53.21 - Laila Mirza - 169th