After two of its three summer outings, El Reno High School’s girls basketball coach Jennifer Douglas has been reminding her players one simple phrase.
“Trust the process,” said Douglas.
The Indians have four wins and just as many close calls as the back-to-back Class 5A state champions have been dealing with retooling an offense hit hard by graduation.
OKLAHOMA CITY – Due to several veteran holdovers committed to travel ball teams or nursing nagging injuries, El Reno High School baseball coach Keith Hill has switched up his summer routine.
Instead of playing in the annual Red Dirt League, Hill has put a junior varsity team in an independent league splitting dates between Southeast and Putnam City. Hill has been mixing in the veteran players when available.
“I wanted to focus on developing those younger kids who will be key for us next spring,” said Hill.
El Reno High School’s girls basketball program recently held a two-day youth skills camp.
Each day had two sessions where fundamentals such as dribbling, passing, shooting and rebounding were taught.
Miscommunication on the game’s final play between backup quarterback Zane Balentine and El Reno’s Xzavier Karty kept the West out of the end zone and the win column during the 2025 Oklahoma Native All-State Association's Football Game.
Central Sallisaw’s Xhaiden Mosby intercepted Balentine’s pass in the end zone with 19 seconds to play, sealing the East’s 7-6 victory.
“It was going to me. It was an out and up route and I guess there was some miscommunication,” said Karty.
In his pre-game welcome speech to a crowd of 1,500 fans, Oklahoma Native All-State Association treasurer Jacob Tsotigh said a founding goal of the group was to gain recognition for Indigenous players.
Athletes who are often overlooked in many of the traditional postseason elite squads in a wide range of sports for both girls and boys.
Shortly after El Reno High School’s loss to Tulsa Memorial in the Class 5A state quarterfinals, seniors Carter Roman Nose and Tre Davis made a slow quiet walk around the corridor of the Jim Norick Arena.
It would be the last time the two 1,000-point career scorers would take the court together.
Coaches voted for more outings from the pair, who combined for 1,016 points in their final season, selecting them to play in two of the state’s elite all-star events, the first being the Oklahoma Basketball Coaches Association’s All-Star Games Saturday.
While watching the 2025 Oklahoma Girls Basketball Coaches Association’s Large School All-State Game, El Reno head coach Jennifer Douglas could not help but have a flashback.
A very happy flashback.
El Reno High School’s Ethan Brooks wrapped up his freshman track season last week with a record-setting performance in the Stars Mile Night event in Oklahoma City.
Running at historic Taft Stadium, Brooks was among the field of 145 thinclads in the high school division. Eighty-six of those runners broke the five-minute mark for the 1,600-meter run, including Brooks.
There were eight heats, each using a pacesetter, with Brooks winning the fourth with a personal-best time of four minutes and 25.25 seconds. He was 4.77 seconds faster than the runner-up.
Russell Cook admits he had a personal motive when he went looking to rekindle the Oklahoma Native All-State Association’s football game after an 18-year hiatus.
“Originally I approached the Native All-State Association because Evan Roman Nose was initially left off the All-State team for the Oklahoma Coaches Association and we felt he was an All-State caliber player,” said Cook.
Though Roman Nose was later added to the OCA squad as an alternate, Cook felt the need to keep the process of the Native All-State game intact.
This young basketball player was sporting his Oklahoma City Thunder jersey at the recent El Reno High School Boys Youth Basketball Skills Camp.
The Thunder won the Western Conference title and will play for the NBA title starting Thursday.
