April 2023

Redlands Community College’s golf team must wait for an at-large bid to the 2023 NJCAA Division I National Championships after placing third recently in the Southwest District Championships held in Arizona.

The Cougars carded a 910 total over 54 holes after shooting a 308 over the final 18 holes. Redlands posted scores of 300 and 302 in the first two rounds. Western Texas Community College (886) won the team title, while Odessa College (899) was second.

Kingston Arnold hit an RBI-triple to score Dalton Belcher in the top of the eighth inning as Calumet High School’s baseball team tuned up for the regional round of the playoffs with a 3-1 over Weatherford.

Calumet, ranked fourth in Class B, improved to 16-7 on the spring season.

The Chieftains scored two runs in the eighth as Kyler Thiessen drew a one-out walk before scoring on Belcher’s single.

Calumet closed the game with four base hits, two each from Arnold and Belcher – one of those a double.

Extending its current win streak to seven games, Union City High School’s baseball team captured the 2023 Class A, District 18 Championship.

The Tigers, ranked 18th in the state, improved to 20-5 on the season after beating Southwest Covenant (14-0) and sweeping two games from Central High by scores of 13-7 and 5-0.

Union City now advances to the Class A, Region 2 Championships which were slated to start Thursday in Canute.

The Tigers got strong pitching wins from Rocky Carroll, Tyler Norton and Laven Zeier in the district run.

Union City High School’s slow-pitch softball team will carry a three-game win streak into the regional round of the playoffs following an 8-5 tuneup victory over rival Hinton.

The Tigers, ranked sixth in the state, moved to 24-14 on the season with the win and were slated to play in the Region 1 Championships at Shattuck, which started Thursday.

Union City was coming off a sweep of Quinton by scores of 12-2 and 11-1 to win the school’s first-ever District 6 Championship.

Losing three of four games to Murray State has slipped Redlands Community College’s baseball team into a tie for fifth place in the NJCAA Region 2, Division 2 standings.

The Cougars avoided the sweep with an 11-8 win in the final game after dropping contests by scores of 11-1, 7-0 and 8-6. Redlands is now 12-16 in the division and 20-28 overall.

Redlands is tied with Northern Oklahoma College of Enid, but the Jets hold the head-to-head tiebreaker.

The Big Burger is moving.

For years, the massive El Reno fried-onion hamburger has been cooked next to Petree Plaza on Russell just east of Choctaw. But with a desire to create more room for spectators to watch the process, an agreement was reached to move north.

Shana Ford with El Reno Main Street said a deal was reached between the city of El Reno and Canadian County to cook the burger in the parking lot just to the north of Heroes Plaza, between Rock Island and Bickford.

The Burger Day Festival is a tribute to the fried onion hamburger, cooked daily in El Reno since the early 1900s. It’s the burger that has helped make the community a destination for food lovers and those trekking along historic Route 66.

It’s not uncommon to hear languages such as French or German being spoken in El Reno’s three main “burger joints,” Johnnie’s, Robert’s or Sid’s.

This year’s festival will include a Native American dance troupe as well as an Hispanic mariachi band.

This year’s Burger Day Festival will feature several performances and festivities occurring on either the Route 66 Main Stage or Stage 66.

The stages have moved from years past and a map of the new locations accompanies this story.

Events scheduled to appear on the Main Stage include Monica Saldivar, Let’s Go! (A Cars Tribute), The Flannels, Coyette and The Haywire Band, Jason Scott and High Heat, Uncle Zep, Charlie Haag Band, My Old School, Pyrotechnics Show and Mariachi Orgullo de America.

Monica Saldivar

Following are recipes on How to Cook the Big Burger from Leann Tucker’s second-grade class at Rose Witcher:

Squish the meat flat. Season it and cook it. Add cheese, sauce, pickles, tomatoes, enjoy! - Jadyn

Then cook the burger add cheese if you want. - Garrett

First get hamburger meat. Cook it and season it an get pickles. - Nyla

Poot a bun on it first. Then cook the meet. Git the letis and the cheese. - Nova

After spending a week looking into what El Reno Public Schools Superintendent Matt Goucher termed a “personnel matter,” the district has reinstated Tyrone Lewis as head wrestling coach.

The reinstatement was effective April 21 but was announced by Goucher Monday morning in a meeting with Athletic Director Rodney Haydon, Lewis and Associate Superintendent of Personnel Pat Liticker.