Sports

While the roster had only five grapplers, it produced close to 150 points as El Reno High School’s girls wrestling team placed seventh in its first tournament outing of the season.

El Reno posted 147 points in the Wrestle Like a Girl Invitational hosted by Cache. The Indians were one of 12 teams to top the 100-point barrier but EHS was only 16 points from the top five. The effort was led by returning state champion Kaylee Miller (145), who logged 32 team points with a first-place effort.

El Reno High School’s wrestling team took 12 grapplers to the 2023 Mid-America Nationals in Enid, with the entire squad placing 28th or better at their respective weights. The 37-team field featured 21 schools from Oklahoma as well as teams from Kansas, Texas and Washington. Among the state schools were Class 4A’s top-ranked Tuttle and Class 6A powers Mustang, Sand Springs and Tulsa Union.

El Reno placed 27th as a team with 97.5 points, missing the top 25 by five and a half points.

Haley Mitchel is no longer a part of the program in which she’s had a major impact as both a player and coach over the span of two decades.

Mitchel informed Okarche Superintendent Josh Sumrall on Sunday that she was resigning her duties as girls basketball coach, effective immediately. She made it official Monday night when she read a tearful, emotional resignation letter to the Okarche Board of Education members during their December regular meeting.

Just days before earning the lion’s share of first-place votes in the second Class B poll of the season, Calumet High School’s boys basketball team defeated 18th-ranked Lomega 62-52 to win the 2023 Canton Invitational.

It was the second victory of the season over the Raiders as undefeated Calumet extended its regular-season win streak to 29 games dating back to last season.

Despite rebounding from a sub-par offensive effort in the tourney-opening loss to Lomega, Calumet High School’s girls basketball team suffered back-to-back losses in the 2023 Canton Invitational.

The Chieftains remain winless on the season after the two losses to the Raiders (72-13), ranked third in Class B, and to Cherokee (66-36).

Calumet struggled to score from 2-point range in the two losses, going 4-of-34 (12 percent), but did hit 10-of-48 shots from behind the 3-point arc for 21 percent.

The Chieftains were 11-of-22 from the free-throw line.

HARRAH - Jennifer Douglas has been waiting to see what the outcome would be when her talented group of El Reno High School basketball players came together as a team.

It took just five games to get that answer.

El Reno moved to 5-0 on the season with a 57-40 win over Putnam City in the championship game of the 51st Annual Harrah Panthers Classic.

“We don’t go to tournament to stack trophies. We go to tournaments to get better. We’ve got something to build on and to show that if you do this and do that, that this will happen.

HARRAH – Having scrimmaged Classen SAS during the preseason, El Reno High School’s boys basketball team used that knowledge of the Comets to post a win when it counted for real.

El Reno outscored the Comets 18-7 in the fourth period to seal a 72-55 victory in the title game of the 51st Annual Harrah Panthers Classic.

The Indians moved to 4-1 on the season after reaching the championship game with victories over Harrah’s junior varsity (93-31) and District 5A-1 foe Shawnee (91-46).

El Reno High School’s wrestling team suffered its worst loss of the dual season last week, dropping a 63-9 decision to Class 4A’s top-ranked Tuttle Tigers.

The Indians, ranked seventh at the time in the Class 5A poll, slipped to 2-2 on the year with its second straight setback.

El Reno forfeited three weights to the Tigers, while giving up falls by Trevor Robinson (157), Terry Guzman (113), Hunter Myers (150) and Spencer Davidson (175).

One quarter proved to be the difference in a tight contest as El Reno High School’s boys basketball team overcame a slow shooting night to earn its first victory of the season.

El Reno used a 13-2 run in the second period and then outgunned Altus 31-30 in the second half to pull out a 55-43 win over the Bulldogs. The 12-point decision lifted the Indians to 1-1 on the year and in the District 5A-1 standings.

While Jennifer Douglas will take what she terms an “ugly win” over the alternative, the El Reno High School girls basketball coach knows her team has the skill level to do better.

El Reno overcame 21 turnovers and 20 fouls to defeat Altus 59-32 in its first road contest of the season. The Indians remain atop the District 5A-1 standings at 2-0 heading into this weekend’s Harrah Panthers Classic.

“I’ll take an ugly win but we have got to get better,” said Douglas.