Sports

El Reno High School’s postseason honors rolled in two by two as the Indians placed a pair of players on each of the three squads making up the 2023 All-Suburban Conference Volleyball Team.

Earning spots on the first team were middle blocker Jewell Graham and utility player Qyra Jones. Second team nods went to defensive specialist Bre Barksdale and setter Emercyn Looper.

Setter Daily Maples and outside hitter Trinity Black earned honorable mention status.

El Reno High School alum Caroline Huber was recently named to the 2023 NJCAA All-Region 2 Soccer Team.

A sophomore at Seminole State College, Huber was named to the first team as a defender.

She has made 18 starts for the Trojans, logging four total shots and three assists. Her primary role is a middle defender for SSC.

Seminole defended its NJCAA Region 2 crown as well as winning the South District title. The Trojans, now 19-0-1 on the year, posted a 16-0 record during the regular season in league games.

El Reno High School’s football team topped the 4,000-yard rushing mark last week against Altus.

Union City High School’s girls basketball team earned cross-county bragging rights over rival Calumet recently with a season-opening 62-30 win over the Chieftains.

The Tigers shot 41 percent, making 23-of-49 (47 percent) attempts from 2-point range. Union City was 5-of-19 (26 percent) from the 3-point arc and made just 1-of-4 free throws in the win.

Bree Goad led Union City with 13 points off 5-of-14 shooting, including two 3-pointers, while collecting three rebounds, three assists and three steals.

After having its 26-game win streak snapped in last season’s state title game, Calumet High School’s boys basketball team started out on another possible win streak.

The Chieftains kicked off the 2023-24 season with a lopsided 98-33 win over cross-county rival Union City. The Chieftains have now won 21 straight regular-season outings dating back through last year.

Calumet scored 25 points or more in three of the four periods against the Tigers including a 38-point second period leading to a 67-19 halftime lead.

In what is expected to be the final regular-season meeting between the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State for the foreseeable future, the Cowboys prevailed 27-24 to remain tied for the Big 12 lead.

Tucked away on the east end of Memorial Stadium, Gage Baeriswyl and Jacob Smith go through their daily drills just like every other member of El Reno High School’s football team.

The difference is neither of their names are commonly found on the lips of those talking about El Reno football as the Indians enter the final week of the regular season.

In fact, their names are often mistaken by announcers, both home and away, either by mispronunciation or the fact they wear jerseys with numbers only two digits apart.

El Reno’s Elijah Fisher (6), Kaleb Blackwolf (1) and Malachi Nicholson (3) have a combined 3,476 rushing yards.
 

Four El Reno High School seniors were nominated for a second round of postseason honors but only two were selected for spots on the 2023 Oklahoma High School Fast-Pitch Softball Coaches Association’s All-Region squads.

Infielders Jacy Little and Iliana Ashford were nominated for All-Region along with pitcher Raley Hartley and outfielder Justine Johnson. However, only Little and Ashford were selected for the All-Region 11 team.

DUNCAN – A pair of former El Reno High School standouts played a game of mind chess from the sidelines last week and it was the elder of alums who got the checkmate move.

Lathen Pruitt, nephew of El Reno defensive coordinator Michael Pruitt (a 2001 EHS grad), intercepted a Sawyer Rice pass at the EHS 10-yard line with two seconds left to seal the Indians 42-28 win over the Duncan Demons.

“Their guy had been throwing it down the field on us all night, but toward the end we really stepped it up a little bit. We were in four and it was my job to stay deep.