February 2023

OKLAHOMA CITY – Though the team title eluded its grasp, El Reno High School’s wrestling program emerged from the 2023 Oklahoma State High School Wrestling Championships with a handful of firsts.

El Reno crowned two individual state champions in the same season for the first time since 2010 as Will Heger and Dailey Jennings captured gold medals.

Kaylee Davis not only became the first female wrestler in school history to place at state, the junior is the first EHS state champion in the girls division – now in its third sanctioned year at the championships.

Canadian County’s three small schools remaining in the 2023 basketball playoffs took the high road, and higher seeds, into their respective state tournaments after winning area titles over the weekend.

Fourth-ranked Calumet extended its winning streak to 24 straight with a 56-47 win over No.8 Goodwell in the Class B, Area II Championship. The Chieftains improved to 26-1 on the season with the nine-point win.

Calumet will be making its fourth trip to state in seven years under head coach Jacob Mayfield, who has one title (2017) and a runner-up (2019) finish.

Leaning hard on its defense to counteract an off shooting night, El Reno High School's boys basketball team earned a spot in the Sweet 16 of the Class 5A playoffs with a 25 point win over a scrappy Guymon team.

Hosting the West Region 3 Championships, El Reno's 62-37 win over the Tigers pushed the third-ranked Indians (16-6) into Saturday's title game where it will face Mount Saint Mary. Tipoff inside Jenks Simmons Field House is set for 7 p.m.

The Rockets defeated Altus, 54-49, in the other semifinal game.

Despite a 10-day layoff, El Reno High School's girls basketball team looked highly efficient in the opening round of the Class 5A playoffs with a 49-point win over Mount Saint Mary.

Hosting the West Region 3 Championships, El Reno shot 60 percent from the field en route to a 78-29 win over the Rockets to improve to 16-5 on the season.

“There was a lot of teamwork. We wanted to make sure everyone got a touch on the ball and not just one person on every play,” said El Reno junior Pauline Black-Harmon.

CALUMET - A 47-year-old Calumet woman suffered burns on 30 percent of her body after a water heater in her home north of the town exploded.

Canadian County Sheriff Chris West identified the woman as Leann Schiffman, but said that the investigation was conducted by the Oklahoma State Fire Marshal’s Office out of Oklahoma City.

“We responded and held the scene until the Oklahoma State Fire Marshal’s Office arrived,” said West.

The home, located at 12605 192nd Northwest according to preliminary reports from the marshal's office, was deemed a total loss.

They are not the first girls to compete for El Reno High School’s wrestling program, nor are they the first to qualify for a state tournament.

Those glass ceilings were broken several years ago.

However, Friday morning, juniors Hannah Koen and Kaylee Davis are set to write a new chapter in the record books as the first El Reno female athletes to compete in the girls-only division at the Oklahoma State High School Wrestling Championships.

It was a gathering of the faithful that transcended the Catholic faith, bringing together thousands to celebrate the life of a man who made the ultimate sacrifice for those in his care.

And more than 41 years after Father Stanley Rother – now Blessed Stanley Rother – died in his rectory in Guatemala, the shrine built to honor him is a symbol not only of his life and that sacrifice, but the example he continues to be for millions of people far beyond the Okarche farm he first called home.

February was a good month for El Reno sales tax collections, as the city easily surpassed revenues posted in January and February 2022.

Sales Tax Revenues

Oklahoma Tax Commission’s February records indicated the city of El Reno collected $1.16 million during the current reporting period. That compared to the $948,824 posted by the city in February 2022 and January’s tally of $935,963.

Most Canadian County’s municipalities this month also saw increases, when compared to February 2022, with two exceptions.

A new Canadian County elected official is updating her district shop with more equipment.

Over the past few weeks, commissioners have awarded contracts for a detachable lowboy trailer and a generator in District 3.

First-year District 3 Commissioner Tracey Rider recommended both purchases.