Sports

Both El Reno High School’s cross-country teams continue to show marked improvements in both times and overall finishes two meets into the 2023 season.

The El Reno girls placed ninth overall in the recent Mike Driskell Turkey Creek Invitational, hosted by Hennessey, with an overall score of 212 points.

The teams had an overall time of one hour and 28.37 minutes, which broke down to an average time of 17:43 per runner.

Emmary Elizondo led the team with a time of 14:51 for the two-mile course at Turkey Creek Golf Course, to place 23rd overall.

Dalton Belcher belted out a pair of doubles and drove in four runs as Calumet High School’s baseball team closed out the fall regular season with a 14-1 win over Sentinel.

The win sends the Chieftains, ranked second in the state in Class B, into the postseason on a nine-game win streak. Calumet improved to 22-2 on the season and was set to host Dover and Carney in the District 2 Championships.

Belcher’s effort was part of a 14-of-27 (.518) showing at the plate for Calumet. Kingston Arnold logged three base hits, while Hunter Arnold and Kaleb Thiessen added a double each.

While Union City has been hit by the rainout bug, Calumet High School’s fast-pitch softball team was able to sneak in a game with cross-county rival Okarche last week.

The Chieftains slipped to 4-18 on the season with a 15-2 loss to the Warriors. Calumet was scheduled to close out the regular season with a road game at Okeene.

Laney Rogers’ team will travel to Lookeba-Sickles, ranked 10th in the state, for the Class B, District 12 Championships.

Redlands Community College women’s soccer team returns home Sunday to host Northeastern Oklahoma A&M seeking an end to a three-match losing streak.

All three losses came against the upper echelon of the NJCAA Region 2 standings, the latest a 4-1 setback to Eastern Oklahoma State College, ranked third in the league.

The three-goal setback dropped Redlands to 1-6 in the standings and 1-7 for the season.

The Cougars slipped to eighth in the league behind NEO.

While it may seem odd calling three regular-season games your preseason, that’s just the philosophy being taken by El Reno High School’s football team coming out of its bye week.

“We’re excited to get into district play. District games are what gets you into the postseason and the first three games were our preseason. Now it’s time to take them one game at a time and go from there,” said El Reno head coach Russell Cook.

El Reno had last week off due to its zero week defeat of Chickasha in the U.S. 81 Battle.

Facing the second of three matches against the upper echelon of the NJCAA Region 2 standings, Redlands Community College women’s soccer team was handed another shutout loss by Seminole State. The Trojans dropped Redlands to 1-6 on the season and 1-5 in the standings with a 7-0 win, which was the program’s 100th.

Redlands was limited to two shots, one each from El Reno natives Carlie Golden and Payton Brickey.

Kaitlynn Runnels was in net for the Cougars, allowing all seven goals against 17 saves.

RCC will host NEO Sunday at 2 p.m.

El Reno High School’s fast-pitch softball team will look to get back into the win column after dropping its seventh straight game with a shutout loss at Piedmont.

The 6-0 defeat gave the Wildcats the regular-season sweep of El Reno, which slipped to 10-11 on the season. The Indians are nine games into a 13-game road swing, sporting a 2-7 record.

The loss dropped El Reno to 4-4 in the District 5A-2 standings for fifth place. The Indians remain a half game back of both Noble (4-3) and Guymon (5-4) for third place.

Playing its sixth straight road match, El Reno High School’s volleyball team suffered a 3-0 defeat to state-ranked Lawton MacArthur in non-conference action.

The 25-15/25-12/25-13 setback to the Highlanders, ranked seventh in Class 5A, was the second of the season. It was the seventh straight loss for El Reno, which slipped to 3-11 overall.

Kallie Maifield and Trinity Black led the team in kills with three each, while Qyra Jones posted two kills. Mary Gonzalez, Anessa Woods, Jewell Graham and Lily Elliott added one kill each.

Redlands Community College women’s golf team placed sixth in the recent Oklahoma Intercollegiate Invitational hosted by Cameron University.

The Cougars posted a 36-hole total of 632 after rounds of 315 and 317. Oklahoma Christian (590) won the event, followed by Texas A&M Kingsville (600), Lubbock Christian (603), Angelo State (606) and Cameron (616). The Cougars defeated North Central Texas College (687) by 55 strokes.

Daniela Espinoza led the Cougars with a 151 (74/77) tally to finish tied for 11th.

El Reno High School receiver Xzavier Karty (21) falls to the ground after making a catch in the third period against Weatherford last week which set up a touchdown for EHS in the 28-26 loss to the Eagles.

The play was ruled a catch by the fan in the background long before the officiating crew made the call.

El Reno was off this week but hosts Elgin for homecoming on Sept. 22.