Sports

El Reno High School’s wrestling team, sitting fourth in the latest Class 5A tournament rankings, earned its third top-five finish of the season over the weekend.

The Indians racked up 193 points en route to a third-place finish in the 2021 Chickasha High School Classic. The field had 18 teams, with eight of the first 10 placers appearing in the top 20 of their respective rankings.

Shawnee, ranked sixth in 5A, won the team title with 207.5 points. Heritage Hall, ranked sixth in Class 4A, edged out El Reno by six and a half points for the runner-up spot.

Both El Reno teams had games with Guthrie called off due to COVID-19 issues inside GHS’ program. The home games will be made up Feb. 8 with normal tipoff times.

Taytim Woods made nine straight free throws in overtime as Union City High School’s girls basketball team snapped a four-game losing streak with a 43-33 win over Alex.

Union City improved to 5-8 on the season.

Woods missed her first free-throw attempt in the extra period before the game-sealing free throws. Makenzie DeLong added a free throw and Woods a 2-point basket as the Tigers outscored Alex 12-2 in overtime.

KINGFISHER – An 8-0 run to start the second period proved to be a key turning point as Class 4A’s top-ranked Kingfisher pulled away from El Reno High School’s boys basketball team for a 64-40 victory – its 11th in a row.

The non-conference loss dropped El Reno, which slipped to 15th in the latest Class 5A poll, to 6-7 on the season.

Logging yet another dominant wire-to-wire effort, El Reno High School’s wrestling team rolled to a 66-12 road victory over Santa Fe South last week.

The Indians, ranked sixth in Class 5A, improved to 5-1 in duals and were slated to wrestle this weekend in the Chickasha Invitational.

El Reno never trailed the St. Bernards as Nikko Gonzalez got a forfeit win at 106 pounds, followed by Hunter Yeakey’s (113) 30-second fall over Valeria Jimenez.

COVID-19 continues to play havoc with the schedules for Canadian County prep basketball teams as two schools lost or had games postponed due to the virus.

El Reno High School’s girls basketball team, ranked eighth in Class 5A, had its game with Class 4A’s 11th-ranked Kingfisher canceled last week. The Indians are 8-4 on the season.

The game was called off after seven players for El Reno were placed into quarantine after an opponent in the recent Shawnee Invitational tested positive for the virus.

After a tough three-point loss to open a recent tournament, Okarche High School’s boys basketball team has reeled off four straight wins en route to a consolation title in the Coyle Invitational.

The win streak has lifted the unranked Warriors to 8-9 on the season.

Okarche opened the Coyle tourney with a 54-51 loss to Okeene, but rebounded to beat the host team (90-45) and Crescent (50-46) to win the consolation trophy.

El Reno High School’s powerlifting team recently competed in the Dickson Invitational, placing six lifters in the top five of their respective weight classes, including four first-place efforts.

Bradley Chavers won the 123-pound division with a total weight of 815 pounds. He logged a squat of 285 pounds, followed by a lift of 205 on the bench and a 325 dead lift. Brother Bradeyn Chavers took gold at 132 pounds with a total weight of 945 pounds. His best lift was 380 pounds in the squat, followed by a 340 dead lift and a 325 bench.

Delayed months by COVID-19 precautions handed down by the National Junior College Athletic Association, Redlands Community College opened up the 2020-21 basketball season over the weekend inside a bubble.

College administration determined earlier this month no fans would be allowed inside the RCC gymnasium for January.

“It’s a different way to start the season. It’s a lot quieter and the energy is hard to keep up when you don’t have fans to cheer on your team. It’s up to the players to cheer and push themselves,” said RCC Athletic Director Eli Zucksworth.

When host Ardmore was hit with COVID-19 issues, the 2021 District 5A-4 Championships was eventually moved to El Reno and became a three-team race for a state berth.

After a first-round bye, El Reno High School’s wrestling team, ranked sixth in the state, knocked off 12th-ranked Carl Albert and No.8 Lawton MacArthur to punch a return ticket to the Class 5A Dual State Championships.