Sports

El Reno High School’s boys cross country team placed 19th overall at last month’s Class 5A West Regional Championship held at Wildhorse Park in Mustang.

The Indians had an overall time of one hour, 56 minutes and eight seconds for the 5-kilometer (3.1-mile) course.

The team’s average overall time was 23:13.64 as El Reno closed with 498 team points.

Jacob Long was the top finisher for El Reno in 66th with a time of 20:17.36 after running an average kilometer time of 4:03. Erik Vazquez (22:27) took 98th place, followed by Cole Strong (22:51) in 101st.

Redlands Community College’s cross country teams closed out the 2021 season recently with third-place finishes at the NJCAA Region 2 Championships.

“The athletes fought hard and ran with their hearts, walking away with some great times and many personal bests for the year,” said RCC head coach Natalie Cox.

The event was hosted by the University of Arkansas at Rich Mountain, based in Mena.

The Redlands women posted an overall time of two hours, nine minutes and 34 seconds for the 5,000-meter course.

El Reno High School’s football team was slated to wrap up the regular season Friday at Altus.

Evan Roman Nose (4), Mikey Devereaux (34) and Malachi Nicholson (3) will be key players.

While the three teams ahead of them still have some “what if” scenarios to work through in the final week of the regular season, El Reno High School’s football team knows exactly what it needs to do – beat Altus.

El Reno heads into week 10 with a 3-6 overall record, but the Indians are now 3-3 in the District 5A-1 standings after a 33-point win over Southeast.

Chuck Atchison’s team holds the fourth and final playoff ticket from the district and will retain the spot outright with a win over the Bulldogs.

In a game marred by penalties, El Reno High School's football team scored points on both sides of the football en route to a 41-8 win over Southeast in a clutch game for both schools in the playoff hunt.

El Reno improved to 3-6 overall with the 33-point win, but more importantly, took over sole possession of fourth place in the District 5A-1 standings at 3-3.

The Indians are now one game ahead of the Spartans and Duncan for the final playoff position and own the head to head tiebreaker over both schools – which are 2-4 going into the final week of the regular season.

One of the hottest schools in Class 5A over the last month of the season was rewarded for its efforts as El Reno High School’s softball program earned five first-team picks on the 2021 All-District 5A-2 squad.

El Reno was third in the district behind Piedmont and Guthrie, with all three teams making the Class 5A State Championship.

The Indians were 19-16 on the year, but posted a 16-6 run over the past month. Over the final 12 games of the season, including state, El Reno was 10-2 with a seven-game win streak.

El Reno High School senior Mikey Devereaux leads the Indians in both rushing and tackling.

Kobe Null is EHS’ top receiver and seventh in tackles going into week 9’s game with Southeast.

For the second time in three weeks, El Reno High School’s football team faces a must-win situation in order to make the playoffs – but this week the room for error is razor thin.

El Reno slipped to 2-6 overall with last week’s loss to league-leader Ardmore, which left the Indians with a 2-3 mark in District 5A-1 play. Southeast, which visits Memorial Stadium this week, suffered a 48-28 setback to Noble.

The Spartans are also 2-3 in league play and tied with El Reno for the fourth and final playoff spot.

ARDMORE – Cal Swanson carved through El Reno High School’s Blue Crush defense with surgeon-like precision as the Ardmore Tigers defeated the Indians 49-7 to remain tied atop the District 5A-1 standings.

The loss dropped El Reno to 2-6 on the season and 2-3 in 5A-1 play.

Swanson did not complete a pass over 10 yards in four attempts. However, under 10 yards, the junior was a perfect 13-of-13, getting the ball quickly into the hands of three different receivers who produced 285 yards and four touchdowns.

It’s been said that being a place-kicker in football can be the loneliest job on the field.

Hours spent alone in practice, booting the ball through the uprights from different spots – then chasing down your own footballs.

Game nights are spent walking the sidelines waiting for your number to be called to showcase to coaches and fans what you have been doing in practice.

Not as glamorous as skilled position jobs, but that’s just fine for El Reno High School’s Kenneth Solis – or No.22 on your roster in case you scanned over it.