Sports

El Reno’s varsity and junior varsity softball teams have posted a 4-1-1 summer record going into the final week of June action.
 

El Reno High School suffered its first loss in the Putnam City Summer Baseball League by a 7-1 decision to the Guthrie Bluejays.

The setback dropped the Indians varsity squad to 3-1 on the summer and 2-1 in PCO league action.

El Reno had its troubles at the plate, going 4-of-17 (.235) with no extra base hits.

The Indians struck out nine times against three walks, two of those by Ryker Crain and one from Ayden Overholser.

Damein McKelvey paced the offense with a 2-for-2 effort as one of his singles plated Crain for the lone EHS run.

Chase Johnson held his first Youth Baseball Skills Camp as El Reno High School’s head coach.

Johnson said the camp drew more than 40 budding baseball players each of the three days of camp at the Hub Reed Complex.

The camp taught basics in hitting, bunting, throwing, catching and daily contests.

(Tribune photographer/Glen Miller)

El Reno High School’s girls basketball program recently held its 2026 Youth Skills Camp at the Jenks Simmons Field House Annex.

More than 50 campers took part in the three-day event which taught dribbling, passing and shooting along with daily contests.

Rodney Haydon admits he is a coach that wants to win each and every time he steps on the basketball court – no matter the time or place.

Haydon is also the father of two basketball players and wants his sons to create the best possible memories when they are wearing El Reno High School jerseys.

El Reno High School’s boys basketball team went 4-2 in the recent Bridge Creek Team Camp with wins over Tuttle, Enid, Yukon and the host team.

This past spring, Calumet, Union City and Okarche High School baseball programs combined for 49 wins and a trio of top four rankings during the regular season.

In the postseason the trio were even more impressive with a 19-1 record, two state championships and one semifinalist.

Five of the players who made the schools a fierce opponent joined forces on one squad, the Small West, for the 2026 Oklahoma Baseball Coaches Association’s All-State Games.

The results followed suit as the West posted a 4-1 win over the East.

Benjamin Kirsch with Oklahoma City-based Ignite Entertainment keeps an eye on the flames as he rolls a metal pole down his arm during the halftime performance at the 2026 Oklahoma Native All-State Football Game held at Memorial Stadium.

Coaches for the West team in the 2026 Oklahoma Native All-State Football Game had several different personnel groupings named by the high schools in which players graduated.

The one grouping called on the most in times of need had a familiar ring.

“El Reno,” said coaches.

A call answered by graduates Omar Tristan, Jaron Youngbear, Vicente Baxcajay, Rustyn Cook and Avery Mouse. Classmate Jerin Sandoval was also rostered in the West’s 14-0 shutout of the East.

“I think that grouping (El Reno) did pretty well, just like it did all year long,” said Cook.

Building a culture where players have each other’s backs, in good times or bad, has been the cornerstone of Russell Cook’s coaching philosophy since day one after taking the El Reno High School football job.

Last week his players did just that – even in spirit.