6/26/08

NCAA Division II wrestling powerhouse Central Oklahoma has added four more high school standouts to the program, head coach David James announced Thursday.

Set to join the Bronchos for the 2008-09 season is Travis Quintero and Levi Queen of Harrah, Austin Standage of Stillwater and Trison Graham of Arkansas City, Kan.

“We’re excited about getting these four young men in our program and look forward to having them on campus,” said James, who has led the Bronchos to 12 national championships in his 26 years at the helm. “Travis and Trison both had tremendous high school success and have a chance to help us right away, while Levi and Austin are up-and-coming young guys with tremendous potential.”

Quintero was a four-time state placer at Harrah, finishing fourth his first two years before making the Class 4A finals the last two seasons. He capped his career with a state championship at 135 pounds, winning tournament Outstanding Wrestler honors in the process.

Graham was a rare four-time state champion and lost only a handful of matches during his stellar career at Arkansas City. He’s a projected 133-pounder for the Bronchos.

Queen was a two-time state placer, finishing as runner-up last year at 215. Standage was a fourth-place finish as a senior at Stillwater at 140 pounds.

UCO has seven starters back from last year’s sixth-place national tournament team.

Smith, Sandite wrestlers reinvest in tradition

By Rodney Echohawk, Sports Editor

06/21/2008

They say what goes around comes around. Charles Page High School head wrestling coach Kelly Smith might agree wholeheartedly.

As the Sandites' mat leader since 2002, he has added his share of success to the CPHS tradition as a prep wrestling power.

His teams have gone 47-24 in duals and won district championships in 2004 and 2005.

In 2005 and 2008 his squads finished sixth at state and he has turned out several All-Staters.

His latest All-State grappler, Ryan Freeman, competes in the Oklahoma Coaches All-State dual on July 28 at 8 p.m. at Norman High School.

A standout wrestler himself in the early 1990's, Smith took over when legendary Sandite coach Alan Karstetter retired.

Two of Smith's former wrestlers, Jared Shelton and Josh Hinton, went on to compete at the NCAA Division I level.

Shelton wrestled at Oklahoma State University and Hinton at the University of Oklahoma.

Smith knows that success needs to give back in order to build future success. His Sandite Wrestling Camp has been geared to do just that.

It finished a four day run Thursday at the CPHS wrestling room.

"The younger kids worked on the basics and we had some fun, too. They got to see what wrestling is all about," Smith said.

"In our advanced group we had some between novice and advanced so we worked with them on stance and heavy hands. And we had a dual the last day of the camp."

Smith said in addition to Sand Springs wrestlers, he also had kids from Berryhill, Cleveland and even Stillwater.

He commended the work of his high school and freshman wrestlers who helped with the camp.

The Sand Springs elementary school age wrestling program enjoyed a standout season with impressive performances at the OKWA State Tournament Feb. 15-16 at Oklahoma City's Fairgrounds Arena.

In the 6-and-under division Seth Jones was second at 40 pounds while Shawn Cowles was third at 55.

In that same age division Nathan Ricks (49 pounds) and Luke Bratcher (66) were each fourth.

In the 8-and-under division Zane Basma was second at 83 pounds while Beau Bratcher was third at 58.

In the 10-and-under division Dakota Skaggs finished fifth at 90 pounds.

In the 12-and-under division Cody Karstetter (67) and Ethan Reeder (110) each came in fifth.

"If they all stay with it, that means a lot of success for Sand Springs in the future," said Smith.

In the 15-and-under division at OKWA state Kyle Ash won a championship at 134 pounds.

Spencer Haff was third at 165 pounds while Ian Hammond was fourth at 118 pounds and Spencer Bruner was sixth at 142.

Ash has earned a spot on the Team Oklahoma Cadet freestyle team this summer.

Shelton will put on an Oklahoma State style team camp at CPHS July 6-10.

"They'll have to have three or four years experienced to get in," said Smith. "I want my high school and junior high kids to go to it."

That's tradition.

Racing best choice for Whit

By Ray Martin
Staff Writer 6/21/08

Football is in Whit Gastineau's blood.

So is wrestling.

But the 23-year-old super sprint driver at State Fair Speedway chose racing over both of the sports he excelled in at Westmoore High less than a decade ago.

"I just love to race,” said Gastineau, who has already earned a pair of second-place points finishes at State Fair Speedway in his eight-year career. "It's fun to be fast, and it's fun to win.”

Gastineau was the starting fullback and star wrestler at Westmoore. During his junior and senior seasons, he finished third in the state tournaments, both of which were won by Edmond Memorial wrestler Johny Hendricks, who went on to win two national titles at Oklahoma State.

"It seems like I get second or third in all sports,” said Gastineau, half jokingly.

Gastineau was offered numerous wrestling scholarships from Division II colleges in high school. He turned them all down.

"A lot of it is that I have bad shoulders,” he said. "There are a ton of college wrestlers that I am better than, but my heart really is in racing. I used to race after wrestling practice and football practice.”

Gastineau's distant cousin, Mark Gastineau, was a star defensive end for the New York Jets in the 1980s. He held the NFL single season record for most sacks with 22 until the New York Giants' Michael Strahan broke the record in 2001 by a half sack.

"Football runs in the family,” Whit Gastineau said. "But really I wasn't big enough to play in college.”

Whit's father, Steve Gastineau, raced sprint cars and super modified cars for 25 years at State Fair Speedway. Whit grew up going to the races to watch his father, and after high school, he decided racing was the only sport he would focus on.

"I think he made the right decision,” Steve Gastineau said of his son.

Now, Steve helps Whit every Friday night.

Whit Gastineau has yet to win a points title at State Fair Speedway, but with nine races left in the super sprints division this season, he is in prime position to earn his first. Before Friday night's races, Gastineau was a mere 20 points behind leader Danny Jennings in the standings. Gastineau hit the front wall on a restart Friday night in the A feature and did not finish the race, but won the two previous A features.

"There is a lot of racing left,” Gastineau said. "I'm sick of being second or third. I want to win one.”