March 2023

El Reno High School’s baseball team kicked off the 2023 spring season last week by splitting non-district games with Kingfisher and Lawton MacArthur.

The Indians defeated the Yellowjackets on the road by an 11-3 margin, before dropping their home opener at the Hub Reed Complex to the Highlanders by a 5-1 margin.

El Reno went 13-of-58 (.224) from the plate after logging just two hits against the Highlanders. The Indians drew 10 walks for the two games but struck out a combined 19 times.

EDMOND – The shot he wasn't supposed to take ended up the clutch basket which sent El Reno High School's boys basketball team back to the Class 5A state tournament.

Senior Diante Palmer banked in a 3-pointer at the buzzer as El Reno defeated cross-county rival Piedmont 47-46 to win the Class 5A West Area 2 Consolation Championships.

“We had a play to run to get the ball to Carter (Roman Nose) so he could shoot the 3-pointer. I ended up with the ball in my hands and I went ahead and took the shot,” said Palmer.

MUSTANG – Two multi-minute scoring droughts and a double-digit turnover mark, all in the second half, turned what looked to be a major upset in the Class 5A playoffs into the first postseason loss for El Reno High School's boys basketball team.

Facing No.2 Del City in the 5A West Area 2 Championships, El Reno squandered a 17-point halftime lead en route to a 53-45 loss to advance the Eagles to next week's state tourney.

OKLAHOMA CITY – It took 29 minutes for Calumet guard Kyler Thiessen to make his only 3-pointer in Friday's semifinals of the 2023 Class B Boys Oklahoma State High School Basketball Championships.

Yet it was just the right shot at the right time for the fourth-ranked Chieftains.

Thiessen ripped his shot from the top of the key with three minutes to play to give Calumet a two-point lead as the Chieftains went on to defeat No.6 Kinta 39-34.

MUSTANG – Seventy six.

That's the number of days El Reno High School's girls basketball team has been waiting for another crack at second-ranked Piedmont after a four-point loss in December.

“When we lost to them at the beginning of the year I wanted this rematch and I knew it would come down to playoffs. We have been prepping every since,” said El Reno head coach Jennifer Douglas.

Prep work she kept under wraps and away from the eyes of Piedmont head coach Eric Carr.

A retired and much revered El Reno High School chemistry teacher has established a scholarship she hopes will help local students be the first in their family to attend college.

Growing up, Karen Jennings never had to worry about finding a way to go to college, it was expected in her family. But through the more than 30 years she taught in El Reno Public Schools, Jennings saw many teens who had the ability but not the resources to tackle higher ed.

In her 18 years of life, Brianna Stevenson has seen too many loved ones struggle against the evil of cancer.

So she decided to do what she could to battle against the disease and for that she is being recognized.

Stevenson was nominated and selected to work with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society as a Student Visionary of the Future to conduct fundraising on her own, with a small team of friends, family, educators and students, to help fund the fight to cure cancer. 

It’s a responsibility she has taken seriously as well as personally.

The 2023 Canadian County Junior Livestock Show was held at the Expo Center last week.

Youth from across the county showed livestock in pigs, goats, sheep and cattle.

When a tornado watch or warning is issued for El Reno, local residents will have a place to take shelter.

Last Sunday, severe weather was forecast for Oklahoma with the central part of the state in the path. That day, School Superintendent Matt Goucher said the four large underground shelters at school campuses were opened and made available to the public.

The only time the shelters will not be open to the general public is during normal school hours.

At Riverside School, our school board, our teachers and staff, many of our parents and I were disappointed that our recent bond proposal did not pass. We are teachers, though, and as most everyone knows, we are individuals who don’t easily give up on seeing that our students have the best we can give them.