Sports

El Reno High School’s powerlifting teams have found mixed results during the first meets of the 2024 season.

The boys varsity squad placed three in the Little Axe Invitational, led by a gold-medal effort of 810 pounds from Jeremiah Ortiz in the 123-pound bracket. He posted a 335-pound deadlift, followed by a 300-pound squat and a 175-pound bench press.

Tucker McDaniel (145) took silver with a total weight of 860 pounds. His best efforts were a 350-pound deadlift and a 340-pound squat.

Jacob Mayfield admits that keeping a zero in the loss column was not a preseason goal of his Calumet High School boys basketball team when the season started in November.

“Sure, we wanted to win every game we played, but going undefeated was not a goal,” said Mayfield.

Yet that’s just what happened after his Class B’s top-ranked Chieftains completed the regular season with a 63-34 win over Binger-Oney in the championship game of the Washita Valley Shootout.

Calumet High School’s girls basketball team will charge into the postseason on a high note after snapping a seven-game losing streak with a 41-35 win over Gracemont in the Washita Valley Shootout.

The win lifted the Chieftains to 2-20 on the season. Calumet will now play Mulhall-Orlando in the semifinals of the Class B, Area 2, District 4 Championships.

After having its 13-game win streak snapped by a four-point loss to Class 2A’s fourth-ranked Hennessey, Okarche High School’s boys basketball team rebounded with back-to-back wins.

The Warriors, ranked fourth in Class A, rallied from the 64-60 loss to the Eagles to beat Class 2A’s 12th-ranked Fairview (76-40) and Cashion (82-45) to close out the regular season with a 20-4 record.

The Warriors are hosting the Class A, Area 1, District 2 Championships and drew a bye into the title game against the winner of the Wellston/Ringwood semifinal.

Rotating two of its top three scorers due to an injury and foul trouble, El Reno High School’s girls basketball team used an abnormal lineup to produce another victory in a perfect season to date.

El Reno moved to 20-0 on the year with a 57-44 home victory over Elgin to sweep the league series over the Owls. It’s just the second 20-win season for head coach Jennifer Douglas and the first during the regular season.

Any notions of a letdown after upsetting the district leader two days earlier were quickly laid to rest as El Reno High School’s boys basketball team posted a 68-30 wire-to-wire victory over Elgin.

The win gave El Reno the regular-season sweep of the Owls and moved Rodney Haydon’s squad to 15-5 on the season.

The Indians gained some ground on the top three teams in the District 5A-1 standings as the 38-point blowout moved EHS to 7-4, but still remaining in fourth place.

El Reno High School assistant wrestling coaches (from left) Nick Brooks, Austin Mogg and Jaxen Gilmore react differently while yelling out instructions during a match at the recent Class 5A District 3 Championships.

EHS head coach Anthony McDonald (arms over head) waits out the final outcome as wrestler Matthew Snyder shouts encouragement.

Due to the loss to Carl Albert, El Reno will not be in this weekend’s dual state championships for a second straight season and will not wrestle again until the 5A West Regional Championships in Duncan Feb. 16-17.

Redlands Community College women’s basketball team jumped back into the win column last week with a 79-60 home victory over Northern Oklahoma College of Tonkawa.

The win moved the Cougars into a tie with Northeastern Oklahoma A&M and Connors State College for first in the NJCAA Region 2 standings at 5-2.

The three teams are a game in front of fourth-place NOC Enid.

Despite a feverish second-half rally, Redlands Community College men’s basketball team was handed its third straight league loss following an 87-86 loss to Northern Oklahoma College of Tonkawa.

The loss dropped the Cougars to 10-11 on the season and 2-5 in the NJCAA Region 2 standings. Redlands slipped to seventh in the league.

The Cougars trailed 48-35 at the break but outscored the Mavericks 51-39 over the final 20 minutes to erase the double-digit deficit.

With only six grapplers on the active roster, El Reno High School’s girls wrestling team has not won many duals this season after dropping a 42-24 decision to Noble last week on senior night.

It was still a positive outing as El Reno went 4-2 in matches settled on the mat after the Indians forfeited five weights in the 18-point loss.

Nylley Miller (105) was pinned in 46 seconds by Noble’s T’ea Plummer before Brooklynn Huggins (110) got those six points back on a 1:20 fall over Christina Vinson.