March 2021

York named All-American

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Peyton York, a 2019 graduate of El Reno and current sophomore education major at Oklahoma City University, was recently named All-American Cheerleader for the second year in a row. The announcement came over the weekend after her coed team won the NAIA National Championship in Davenport, Iowa. She is currently on both the competitive coed and all-girl STUNT teams.

Peyton York

OHCE giving away scholarships to county students

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The Canadian County Association for Oklahoma Home and Community Education (OHCE) is giving two $500 scholarships to students planning to attend a two- or four-year college or university.

Scholarships are available to any 2021 graduating senior or new G.E.D. certificate holder who resides in Canadian County, is registering for further education for the first time and will be attending an institution of higher education full time. Recipients will be selected on the basis of financial need, academic record and character recommendations.

Golden Iron

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Five of its seven qualifiers placed in the top 10 as El Reno High School recently won the Class 5A team title at the 2021 Oklahoma Football Coaches Association’s State Powerlifting Championship.

El Reno logged 88 total points from its seven lifters to beat out Ardmore by 35 points for the title. Lawton Eisenhower was third with 35 points. The Indians had the third highest overall point total behind 4A winner Miami (118) and 3A state champion Sulphur (105).

There were 45 districts in the Large School division comprised of Classes 3A-6A.

Juneau Klinekole attempts a lift in the bench press portion of the state meet

Redlands splits with RSU

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Redlands Community College’s baseball team snapped a four-game losing streak last week with a 15-12 win over Rose State College to split a doubleheader with the Raiders.

The Cougars improved to 3-11 on the season after dropping the series opener 9-4. That loss came on the heels of setbacks to Cowley County by scores of 10-0 and 10-6.

The win over Rose State was fueled by a nine-run effort over the third through fifth innings, six of those runs coming in the fifth. Holden Tate and Duke Crossley doubled in runs, while Tylor Richey and Patrick Hunter had an RBI-single each.

Holden Tate tags out a base runner after he was caught in a rundown

Cougars basketball battling with three-game losing streaks

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Redlands Community College’s basketball teams are struggling through three-game losing streaks which have dropped both squads down in the Oklahoma Collegiate Athletic Conference standings.

The RCC men lost a close 66-56 game to Seminole State College last week on the heels of setbacks to Northern Oklahoma College of Tonkawa (73-64) and Eastern Oklahoma (98-84).

The Cougars are now 8-8 on the season and 2-8 and ranked eighth in the OCAC standings.

Idalis Ortiz dribbles during a recent home game

Redlands linksters fourth in ’21 opener

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Redlands Community College’s golf team opened up the spring season recently with a fourth-place finish in the Diffee Invitational held at Kickingbird Golf Course in Edmond.

The Cougars had a 36-hole total of 625 after rounds of 314-311. The University of Central Oklahoma won with a 610 total, followed by Rogers State (613) and Southwestern Oklahoma State (618).

Youth bowlers pin down state titles

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Several El Reno bowlers won scholarship money recently by placing in the 2021 Oklahoma Youth State Championships, held at Heritage Lanes in Oklahoma City.

Zak Billings, Collin Vickers, Mallory Watkins and Brianna Vickers joined forces to win the Mixed B Handicap title. The team had a combined score of 2,790.

Gena Studley and Kyston Haines bowled a score of 1,395 to take first place in the Mixed Doubles B Handicap.

Billings and Watkins placed third in the same division with a score of 1,337.

Youth bowlers - Mixed B Handicap title winners

Calumet opens spring bid; Tigers ranked in Class A

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Calumet High School’s baseball team opened up the spring season by winning two games in its own festival.

The Chieftains, 2-1, were slated to be one of the five host teams for the 2021 Union City Spring Break Festival, which was set to get under way Thursday.

Calumet defeated Laverne (7-2) and Shattuck (9-3) in the festival but dropped a 5-2 game to Seiling. The Chieftains hit .288 for the series, logging 18 runs off 19 hits.

Union City reels off wins; Calumet kicks off spring slowpitch

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Following a 1-3 start, Union City High School’s slow-pitch softball team has found a recent groove by winning six of its last nine games to improve to 7-6 on the season.

Two of the wins came during a three-game stint in the Ringwood Festival. The Tigers, ranked 20th in Class 2A, beat 6A’s 16th-ranked Enid (9-8) and Hennessey (15-5) but lost 14-2 to Morrison, ranked second in Class 3A.

Joe Ray

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Graveside memorial services for Joe Carl Ray were held Thursday at the Evergreen Cemetery in Minco under the direction of Huber-Reynolds Funeral Home.

Joe passed away Feb. 5, 2021, at St. Anthony’s Hospital in Oklahoma City. He was born Dec. 19, 1935, in Okemah. Joe graduated from Del City High School in 1955. He moved to Minco from Oklahoma City in 1968. Joe served in the U.S. Army. He worked as a supervisor for ATT until his retirement in 1989. He was a member of Canaan Baptist Church.