Shortly after the El Reno girls won their second straight Class 5A state championship, I was stopped on press row and asked a question I was not ready to answer.
“You’ve got to be excited,” inquired one media member.
To the victor go the spoils as El Reno High School’s boys basketball team, the outright league champion, claimed nine spots on the five lists making up the 2025 All District 5A-1 Team.
Three of those honors were superlative awards as Rodney Haydon was named Coach of the Year. He was joined by senior Tre Davis, who was named Player of the Year, and senior Carter Roman Nose, who was tabbed as Defensive Player of the Year. Carter also earned a first-team spot.
El Reno High School fell a few pounds and points shy of winning its second championship of 2025 as the boys squad earned a runner-up finish at the 2025 Oklahoma Powerlifting Coaches Association’s State Meet.
The Indians had seven lifters in the high school division as El Reno racked up 47 points. Durant won the Class 5A team chase with 54 points.
El Reno High School’s girls golf team posted its first sub-400 team score of the 2025 season but now know they have work left to do to make an impact on the state tourney level.
Playing the Class 5A Girls State Preview at Lincoln Park, El Reno took seventh with a 394. Carl Albert won the title with a 347, followed by Duncan (352), Bishop McGuinness (357), Ada (371), Tulsa Bishop Kelley (380) and Lawton MacArthur (392).
El Reno freshman Radley Miller (44-47) and junior Lily Elliott (48-43) led El Reno’s effort with duplicate rounds of 91.
OKLAHOMA CITY – For just the third time in the storied 60-year history of the Jim Norick Arena, the Class 5A Girls Oklahoma State High School Basketball Championships was settled between a pair of past winners.
El Reno, the defending state champion, was expected to have an uphill battle in defense of that title against four-time winner Booker T. Washington, led by Baylor signee Marcayla Johnson.
While Johnson scored a team-high 24 points, 16 coming in the second half, the Hornets proved no match for El Reno.
With her body aching from a hard fall taken a quarter earlier, Raegan Bugaj stepped to the free-throw line at the Jim Norick Arena with 5.7 seconds left in the state title game.
She gently lifted up her glasses and wiped away a mixture of sweat and tears from under each eye.
“It was tears,” said Bugaj.
YUKON – Lilly Thomas pulled down a defensive rebound off a missed 3-pointer in the waning second as El Reno held off a late charge by Coweta for a 48-45 semifinal win at the Class 5A Oklahoma Girls State High School Basketball Championships.
It was El Reno’s second three-point victory of the postseason and sent the Indians into the championship game for the fourth time in six seasons.
OKLAHOMA CITY – Sometimes a team’s best offense is a good defense – even in the state tourney.
Making its first-ever appearance in the Jim Norick Arena a/k/a the Big House, El Reno leaned heavily on its defense to overcome a slow shooting effort to defeat Durant 42-25 in the quarterfinals of the 2025 Class 5A Girls Oklahoma State High School Basketball Championships.
“Our defense did carry us and played a big part in this win. I’m glad we did everything we did to stop the things they were doing,” said El Reno senior Emmary Elizondo.
OKLAHOMA CITY – El Reno had its shots to advance in the 2025 Class 5A Boys Oklahoma State High School Basketball Championships, they were just falling every other way but through the rim.
Making its 41st state tournament appearance and the ninth trip to the Elite Eight under head coach Rodney Haydon, El Reno missed 42 shots in a 65-57 loss to Tulsa Memorial.
The setback ends El Reno’s season at 25-4 as the Indians were trying to advance to the semifinals for the first time since 2019 and the 25th overall.
El Reno High School senior wrestler Matthew Snyder recently signed with Kansas-based Baker University.
Baker is coached by former EHS head coach Tyrone Lewis.
