Sports

More than 40 young basketball players took part in El Reno High School’s girls basketball skills camp last week at Jenks Simmons Field House.

Players were taught individual skills as well as team concepts.

MUSTANG – For 84 days, El Reno High School girls basketball coach Jennifer Douglas stewed over a four-point loss to McAlester in the Class 5A state championship game.

Sharing in that pain were two of her star guards, Ashlyn Evans-Thompson and Tetona Blackowl.

“It’s taken awhile to get over that pain,” said Evans-Thompson.

Blackowl agreed.

“It’s been hard and I’m not sure I’m really over it yet. I learned a lot from that game and I feel like I may never really ever get over it but I did learn from it,” said Blackowl.

Tyler Tignor’s final game as a head coach, at least for now, was a memorable one for sure.

Coaching the West squad in the 2022 Oklahoma Baseball Coaches Association’s All-State Small School Game, Tignor’s farewell effort ended in a 7-all tie after the East rallied with four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning.

The game was played at David Allen Ballpark in Enid.

El Reno High School kicked off the summer baseball season last week with two games against the Oklahoma City Broncos.

The Indians dropped both games to the home-school team in the wooden bat division of the Red Dirt League.

See Wednesday’s edition for a wrap-up of the openers.

Last week’s A Small Town Weekend event brought competitions for cars with both big and small wheels.

CENTRAL

Arcadia: Elevation is 1 ft. above normal and falling, water temperature 72°F and stained.
Saugeye fair on crankbaits around points. Channel and blue catfish good on cut bait and worms around riprap and shallows. Largemouth bass fair on plastic baits and spinnerbaits around brush structure, standing timber and weed beds.

Unlike a year ago when Shanon Eichholz rallied over the final stage to win his division of the Route 66 Triathlon Festival, the El Reno native defended his title over the weekend with everyone else chasing him.

Eichholz captured first place in the Olympic-Distance Duathlon by a double-digit margin on the clock while shaving more than seven minutes off his winning time from 2021.

The three-stage event is the sister to the regular triathlon but participants do not take part in the swimming stage. Instead, an extra running stage is added in its place.

El Reno’s Ashlyn Evans-Thompson dives for a loose ball in the first half of the Oklahoma Girls Basketball Coaches Association’s (OGBCA) Large School All-State Game over the weekend in Mustang.

See Saturday’s edition of the El Reno Tribune for a game recap of her efforts and that of former teammate Tetona Blackowl and head coach Jennifer Douglas.

SHAWNEE – While its company catch phrase says it “gives you wings,” a popular energy drink may have been one of the deciding factors that shacked El Reno’s Ashlyn Evans-Thompson to the bench.

Playing in the famed Faith 7 Bowl, the first El Reno female to ever do so, Evans-Thompson was forced out of the game by a stomach issue with less than a minute to play in the first half.

A successful partnership between the city of El Reno and the state’s oldest riding club may have helped secure a permanent home for a fan-friendly and wildly popular bull-riding event.

The El Reno Wranglers sponsored the 10th Annual Mustache Bash at Denny-Crump Rodeo Arena over the Memorial Day weekend.

The two-day event drew an estimated 700 fans.

“They want to make us their permanent home.

“They liked the response and we had a good turnout. It could have been better but it was the Memorial Day weekend. Next year we will pick a different weekend.