Sports

When El Reno Public Schools Athletic Director Rodney Haydon began looking for the district’s new wrestling coach, he wanted to find the person who could keep the program’s momentum going with little to no fallout.

He didn’t have to look far.

In its July meeting, the El Reno School Board approved the promotion of Anthony McDonald to head coach.

McDonald served as the lead assistant last season under Lewis, who resigned earlier this month to take the head coaching job at Kansas-based Baker University.

In what will likely be the final prep match for three alumni, El Reno High School ended a 13-year absence from the Oklahoma Coaches Association’s All-State Wrestling Matches.

With former head coach Tyrone Lewis, an EHS All-Stater himself (1999), yelling instructions from the stands, recent grads Dailey Jennings and Will Heger split matches for the Large West Team.

Both wrestlers are headed to the college ranks at the University of Central Oklahoma, while Lewis resigned earlier this month to take the head coaching job at Baker University in Kansas.

El Reno High School’s softball team will kick off the 2023 preseason on Tuesday with a trip to Chickasha.

The Indians will play Chaney Valley (10 a.m.), Berryhill (11:05 a.m.) and Bridge Creek (1:15 p.m.) with games being played at the town’s sports complex.

El Reno will then play at Southmoore High School on Thursday, taking on Washington (noon) and Norman North (3 p.m.)

New head coach Jason Little and the Indians are scheduled to open the 2023 regular season Aug. 7 with a road trip to Yukon.
 

NORTHEAST

Birch: July 23.
Elevation is 1 ft. below normal (stable). Water temperature 85°F and stained.
Crappie fair on minnows around brush structure. Blue and channel catfish fair on cut bait and shad around channels and points.

What seemed a distant target date at the end of spring drills in May has become a quickly approaching fact of life.

Football season is almost here.

“We will start two-a-day drills at 6:30 a.m. on Aug. 7,” said El Reno head coach Russell Cook.

El Reno began its final week of summer player conditioning and weightlifting, for all sports, on Monday. Once that session is complete, football will have 10 days before the start of preseason two-a-day drills.

Carrying a two-year win streak into the 2023 Smoke on the Water Drag Boat Races, El Reno’s Matt Miller wanted nothing more than to take the checkered flag once again in his signature event – Pro Stock.

While fate and physics had a different plan for a three-peat, Miller still drove into the winners circle with an undefeated record – in the Modified class.

“A win is a win no matter what class it is. Winning in front of your home crowd is always good and I really appreciate all the support and the city of El Reno for giving us a place to play with our hot rods.

NORTHEAST

Birch: July 15.
Elevation is 2 ft. below normal and stable, water temperature 80°F and stained.
Crappie fair on minnows around brush structure. Largemouth and spotted bass fair on plastic baits around creek channels and standing timber.

This is the second story in a recap of El Reno High School’s baseball team's work over the summer.

With three of its top five pitchers from the spring inactive for the Red Dirt League, El Reno High School head coach Keith Hill made the choice to develop young arms over the month-long summer campaign.

No matter how much it cost the Indians in the win-loss column.

“We decided to develop some young guys and take that route.

“It was a good choice and it was the right move,” said Hill.

After guiding El Reno High School’s wrestling program back from the brink of extinction, Coach Tyrone Lewis has resigned his position and is headed back to the college ranks.

Less than a day after signing his resignation letter in El Reno, Lewis was announced as the new men’s wrestling coach at Baker University based in Bolden, Kan., south of Lawrence. The Wildcats wrestle on the NAIA level.

For two seasons Josh Finnigan has served as crew chief for Matt Miller and his child, Radley, as the father-daughter duo race on the Southern Drag Boat Association series.

However, this year the crew added a new member who has made the trips to Texas even more of a family affair. Finnigan’s own daughter, Teagan, has joined the team as a driver.

“It’s 100 percent a family affair. My wife (Katrina) jokes this is how we spend our summer vacations, racing boats.