CPHS Golf: Carson Griggs signs with University of Denver

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Charles Page High School senior and OSSAA 6A State Runner-Up golf star Carson Griggs signed a letter of intent Wednesday morning to play for the University of Denver (DU).

DU is a four-year private university participating in NCAA Division One athletics. The Pioneers have been members of The Summit League since 2013 and they placed sixth in the conference championship this past season. Their last conference title was in 2014 and their last NCAA Tournament appearance was in 2011. They are led by Head Coach Erik Billinger in his fourth season. 

Griggs is coming off a second-place finish in the OSSAA 6A State Championship last May, finishing just two strokes behind the Champion in a field of 72 competitors. He shot four strokes under par in a three-round tournament at the Golf Club of Edmond. He tied for 20th place as a sophomore and 19th place as a freshman.

Last year Griggs took first place at the 6A State Preview at Karsten Creek in Stillwater, but the Championship location was relocated due to spring flooding at its usual site. He also won the Sand Springs Invitational and the Frontier Valley Conference Championship, and placed second at the Bartlesville Bruin Invitational.

CPHS Golf: Carson Griggs selected as All-Tulsa World Player of the Year Finalist

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Charles Page High School senior Carson Griggs was selected as one of three All-Tulsa World Golf Player of the Year finalists.

Griggs is a rapidly rising star on the Oklahoma golf scene, winning three High School tournaments this past season and coming in Runner-Up at two others. He placed first at the Sand Springs Invitational, the Frontier Valley Conference Championship, and the 6A State Preview.

A three-time State Qualifier, he tied for nineteenth as a freshman and twentieth as a sophomore before coming in Runner-Up this past season. He was only two strokes behind the Champion, shooting four under par at the Golf Club of Edmond.

Griggs regularly competes on the Oklahoma Junior Golf Tour throughout the summer and was recently on the winning East Team at the Oklahoma Junior Cup Matches in Shawnee.

Final selection for the Athlete of the Year will be made at the All World Awards dinner on July 8th at Marriott Southern Hills.

Fourteen Sandites named to Tulsa Area All-VYPE Teams

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Fourteen Sand Springs athletes received accolades in the latest edition of the VYPE Tulsa magazine.

Daton Fix was third in the voting for Tulsa-Area Boys Athlete of the Year, receiving 5.8% of the vote in a poll with fourteen candidates. Fix concluded his high school wrestling career as a four-time undefeated State Champion with a 168-0 record. He will compete for a Junior World Championship this summer in Finland before wrestling this winter for Oklahoma State University. 

Sydney Pennington was fourth in the voting for Tulsa-Area Girls Athlete of the Year, receiving more than 4,700 votes for 5.6% of the vote in a poll with thirteen candidates. Pennington started every game this basketball season and was the leading scorer with 10.77 points per game to help her team to the State Semifinals. She shot 52.38% on field goals and averaged more than five rebounds, two steals, and two assists per game. She was also given an honorable mention on the All-Tulsa Basketball team. 

Pennington will continue her athletic career at Oklahoma State University on the softball team. In the fall fast pitch season she batted .543 with 57 hits, 45 runs, 38 RBI, and 10 home runs. She went undefeated on the mound for a 6-0 record with a 1.41 ERA, 1.135 WHIP, and 29 strikeouts. She gave up only 23 hits and 8 earned runs to aid her team to the State Semifinals.

Cheyenne Walden was also nominated for Girls Athlete of the Year and was named to the All-Tulsa Track Team. Walden concluded her high school career as a nine-time State Champion. She won 28 Cross Country meets with a 5K personal-record of 17:32 and four State titles. In Track she won 29 3200-meter runs, including three State titles and went undefeated for the past three seasons. Her 3200 PR is 10:45.43. She won twelve 1600-meter runs including two State titles, with a PR of 4:57.07. She will run at Oklahoma State University. 

Ashton Persons was named to the All-Tulsa Area Girls Golf Team. She won the Sand Springs Invitational this year and placed 19th at the OSSAA 6A State Tournament.

Carson Griggs was named to the All-Tulsa Area Boys Golf Team. A junior three-time State Qualifier, Griggs won three tournaments this season, including a Frontier Valley Conference title, and was the State Runner-Up by a two-stroke deficit.

Josh Cordell (P), Mack Thompson (SS), Hunter Greathouse (3B), Treyce Tolbert (OF), and Josh Taber (OF) were named to the All-Tulsa Area Baseball Team. 

Cordell pitched a 6-3 record this season with a 3.24 ERA, 1.309 WHIP, and 48 strikeouts. Thompson batted .352 with 43 hits, 34 runs, and 16 RBI. Greathouse batted .350 with 41 hits, 25 runs, 1 home run, and 31 RBI. He pitched a 4-6 record with a 4.37 ERA, 1.850 WHIP, and 32 strikeouts. Tobert batted .381 with 45 hits, 30 runs, 1 home run, 29 RBI, and 14 stolen bases. Taber batted .310 with 39 hits, 26 runs, 15 RBI, and 16 stolen bases. 

Cordell, Tolbert, and Thompson will play for Rose State College, while Greathouse will play for Cowley County Community College.

Jensen Arnold (P) made the All-Tulsa Area Slow-Pitch Softball Team. She batted .418 in the Spring Slow-Pitch season and pitched every game in the team's 11-13 season. 

Colt Savage made the All-Vype Basketball Second Team. Savage was the leading scorer on the team and the second-highest scorer in the entire Frontier Valley Conference with 22.48 points per game. 

Aden Baughman and Colton Washington were both named to the All-Tulsa Track Team. Baughman took first place in seven out of eight track meets in the 800 meter run, claiming his first State Championship with a personal-record 1:53.16. Washington won a Regional Championship in the Long Jump, placed seventh at the State Tournament, and set a PR of 22'01.00".

Longtime Sandite Coach/Athletic Director Cecil Hankins to be inducted into OBCA Hall of Fame

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Cecil Hankins, 1953 Sand Springs High School yearbook.

Former Sand Springs Coach and Athletic Director Cecil Hankins will be inducted into the Oklahoma Basketball Coaches Association (OBCA) Hall of Fame Saturday, June 3rd. Hankins was previously inducted into the Oklahoma Coaches Association (OCA) Hall of Fame in 1975 and the Oklahoma State University Hall of Honor in 1996.

Hankins coached in Sand Springs for sixteen years, including basketball, football, track and field, baseball, and golf. He retired as Athletic Director in 1988 and passed away in 2002 at the age of 80. 

A Division I collegiate athlete, Hankins played for Oklahoma A&M University (now Oklahoma State University) in both football and basketball, under Jim Lookabaugh and Henry Iba respectively.

In football he played halfback and defensive back on the undefeated 1945 team that was recently declared the National Champions by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA). The AFCA has been working to declare national champions for the period between 1922 and 1949 before they began a rankings system.

1945 Oklahoma A&M National Champion team. Hankins can be seen in the second row from the top, four positions to the right of Head Coach Jim Lookabaugh. 

In the 1945 Sugar Bowl, Hankins received the go-ahead touchdown pass from Bob Fennimore and the Aggies went on to prevail 33-13 over St. Mary's. 

Hankins didn't live long enough to see his football team recognized as National Champions, but the 1945 Basketball team also won a National Title and he contributed 13 points per game that season. The 1945 season was the school's first NCAA Tournament appearance and first National Championship as the Aggies defeated New York 49-45 in front of 18,000 fans at Madison Square Garden to finish the season with a 27-4 record. Hankins scored 15 points in the Championship game.

After his collegiate career, Hankins played 25 games with the Boston Celtics and averaged 2.8 points per game for 70 career points. 

At Sand Springs he coached football from 1952-1954 and amassed a 15-10-4 record with a 1952 District Championship and playoff appearance. He coached future three-time MLB World Series Champion Jerry Adair as quarterback, who went on to play basketball at OSU under Iba. He coached basketball from 1948 through 1957. Sandite Pride is missing the 1948-1949 season record, but his final eight years Hankins went 144-59-1 and led his team to four-straight Verdigris Valley Conference Championships.

Hankins will be inducted along with Jack Begley, Ron Murphey, Robert Sprague, and Bailey Van Zant. Begley coached at Texhoma High, Clinton High, and Panhandle State. He won two State Championships at Clinton. Murphey coached at Felt and Texhoma and won one State Championship at Texhoma. Sprague coached at Daniel Webster, Nathan Hale, and Tulsa Memorial. Van Zant coached at Pond Creek and Pryor, started the basketball program at Seminole Junior College, then coached fourteen years in Texas.

CPHS Golf: Carson Griggs comes in Runner-Up at 6A State Tournament

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Charles Page High School junior Carson Griggs made his third trip to the OSSAA 6A State Tournament this week and had his best performance yet, finishing Runner-Up by two strokes.

The two-day three-round tournament was held at the Golf Club of Edmond instead of Stillwater's Karsten Creek due to flooding at the usual host site.

Griggs played excellently all three rounds, but his best performance was on day one when he shot three strokes under par. His 67-stroke finish was the second-best performance of any golfer during any round. State Champion Austin Eckroat had the best single-round score at 66.

Griggs sat in second place after the first round, then shot a 71 in round two and dropped to third place at the end of day one behind Eckroat and Brock Polhill, both of Edmond North. On day two he made up for lost ground with the best performance of the day, shooting a 68. He jumped five strokes ahead of Polhill, but was still two short of Eckroat, who scored 68 in round two and 70 in round three. 

72 athletes competed at the event, with an average score of 241. Griggs finished with a total score of 206. Griggs previously tied for nineteenth place as a freshman and twentieth place as a sophomore with scores of 238 and 242 at Karsten Creek. Edmond North won their fifteenth State Championship as a team. The Huskies hold the record for most State Championships won by any school at any classification in Oklahoma.

CPHS Golf: Carson Griggs comes in runner-up at Bartlesville Bruin Invitational

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The Charles Page High School Boys' Golf team traveled to the Bartlesville Bruin Invitational at Adams Golf Course last week. They were one member short of a full lineup and thus couldn't earn a team placement, but Carson Griggs took second place, Kyler Gaylor tied for 29th, and JT Bristow took 49th. 

Griggs was consistent through both halves of the two-round tournament, shooting 77 in round one and 76 in round two. With a total score of 153 on a par 144, Griggs tied Sapulpa's Daniel Reed for first place, but then lost in a playoff for the top medal. 

Gaylor had a tough first round with a score of 93, but followed it up with an 84 to finish at 177. Bristow shot a 216 with rounds of 109 and 107. 

Owasso took first place in the tournament with a team score of 652, followed by Bishop Kelley at 653. The home team came in third at 656, tailed by Sapulpa at 657.

The season wrapped up for Bristow and Gaylor Monday at the Regional Tournament in Owasso. Bristow shot a 224 with rounds of 114 and 110, and Gaylor shot a 164 with rounds of 79 and 85. Griggs scored a 152 with rounds of 80 and 72 to tie for sixth place. He will advance to the State Tournament at the Golf Club of Edmond next Monday and Tuesday.