Sports

Opponents on the Class B level know that Calumet High School senior Kaleb Thiessen has the skills to play at the next level.

Now the rest of the state and perspective college coaches do as well.

Thiessen was one of two Canadian County small-school players picked to compete in last week’s 2025 High Plains Shootout in Enid.

The other was Union City pitcher Aiden Williams, who according to his father, was held out due to soreness in his forearm which needed rehab.

Dressed as an astronaut, El Reno resident Cody Shropshire runs around the edge of the infield at the Bricktown Ballpark during a fan-involved race.

Shropshire was one of many El Reno residents attending the Oklahoma City Comets game to cheer on EHS graduate Rhett Kouba during a recent Triple A game.

Bri Michalicka can’t wait to see her team together on the field at the same time, even though her El Reno High School softball program kicked off preseason drills last week.

Michalicka moved the first four days of team practices to one-on-one instruction sessions since she had only six available players. Ten varsity players were at church camp and four more were with their travel ball teams at national tournaments.

El Reno’s Brecken Haglund recently competed in the Sub-Regional qualifier at Lincoln Golf Course in Oklahoma City.

He advanced to the Regional Finals in Frisco, Texas, set for Oct. 5. He competes in the 12-13 age division.

The Drive, Chip and Putt competition comprises three stages: Local Qualifier, Sub-Regional Qualifier and Regional Finals. The winner of the Regional Finals earns a spot to compete in the National Finals at Augusta National the week preceding the Masters.

This achievement marks Brecken’s fifth consecutive qualification to the Regional Finals.

El Reno High School’s softball program held a youth skills camp last week at the Ashbrook North Complex.

More than 50 campers took part in the three-day event.

The Indians open preseason workouts Tuesday.

The year is 2000 and the calendar flipped to a new century, the final Peanuts comic strip appeared in newspapers worldwide and a small drag boat race started on the waters of Fort Cobb Lake. 

Spin forward 25 years and Smoke on the Water will celebrate its 25th anniversary July 25-27 with a professional barbecue ribs cookoff, live band and cornhole tournament.

Not to mention the fastest open boat racing in Oklahoma – Outlaw style.

While the end result was a winning campaign, El Reno High School head baseball coach Keith Hill said the short summer season was more about an inner look than the outward product.

“About like anything else, I saw some really good things and not so good. I got to see a lot of the young kids and the junior varsity kids and that was important,” said Hill.

El Reno went 4-4 in the league with games played at Southeast and Putnam City. Hill said it was supposed to be a league comprised of incoming freshman and junior varsity players, but he subbed in some veteran players.

El Reno High School’s baseball program recently held its annual youth baseball skills camp.

Thirty-one players attended the event which worked on skills such as hitting, throwing and fielding.

Dean Davis stretches out to make a catch during a relay drill at the 2025 El Reno High School Youth Baseball Clinic.

See Saturday’s paper for more photos.

Aiden Williams loves to play baseball, so much so, that he pitched in last week’s Oklahoma State Games despite recovering from a serious thumb injury.

“I feel like if I took the whole summer off, then that’s just wasted opportunity to get better and get stronger. I’m using this time right now to get bigger and stronger to get back to where I was before I got injured,” said Williams.

The Union City High School senior was one of three local players on the Northwest roster, which lost to the Southeast team 5-4 on a walk-off in the seventh inning.