Sand Springs Wrestling Team qualifies four for Nationals
/By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief
The Charles Page High School wrestling team was well represented at the OK USA National Team Qualifier at Union this weekend, and four wrestlers qualified for Nationals this summer in Fargo, North Dakota.
Junior three-time undefeated OSSAA State Champion Daton Fix wrestled at 126 pounds in Junior Freestyle and had no problem breezing through his opponents, teching Omar Pollard and Jet Taylor 10-0 each, and receiving a forfeit from Karson Bellmard for first place.
Junior Jack Karstetter, a 2016 State Runner-Up, wrestled at 132 pounds and placed second in Junior Freestyle with a 3-1 record. He defeated Gage Gomez by 10-0 tech fall, then narrowly edged out Westmoore's Dalton Duffield in an 11-11 tie breaker. Duffield went 41-4 this past high school season and came in runner-up to Fix at the State Championships. Karstetter picked up another tech fall with an 18-8 win over Billy Simpson in the semifinals. The final round pitted Karstetter against Garrett Rowe of Choctaw. Rowe went 40-5 last season and secured his second-consecutive State Championship. Karstetter battled hard but lost by 12-8 decision.
Junior State Placer Michael Ritchey also wrestled at 132 pounds but failed to place after giving up losses to Rowe and Duffield. He did defeat Vincent Eremita 8-7 and Jacob Reeves 14-4, however.
Senior Sage Singleton competed at 120 pounds and gave up tech falls of 10-0 and 16-6 to Zachery Bibb and Jakob Lyons, respectively.
In the Cadet division, Sophomore State Qualifier Blake Sargent placed third in 132 with a 4-1 record. He teched Spencer Schickram 10-0 and Kenneth Wolford 11-0 before giving up an 11-6 decision to Rodrick Mosley. In the consolation bracket he once again defeated Schickram, this time 17-6, then defeated Bobby Robinson 14-8 to secure his spot at Nationals.
Clyde Boyd Middle School student Caleb Phillips wrestled at 120 and went 2-2. He teched Josiah Holliday 12-0 and pinned Cayden Nelson in 31 seconds before falling to Zach Williams by 0:53 pin. Ryder Ramsey teched Phillips 10-0 to eliminate him from contention.
Sage Singleton also wrestled at 120 pounds in Junior Greco-Roman and placed third with a 1-2 record after teching Justin McHenry 16-5, getting pinned in 0:37 by Jakob Lyons, and forfeiting to Garrett Wild.
