As the spring term presses on, the Central Oregon Community College sports department has made several updates to the sports scene on campus. Starting with a new running club ran by Lina May, an accomplished runner. As well as the return of the tennis club now co-ed started by Brian Reese, a longlife tennis fanatic.
The running club, founded by Lina May, a former Division 1 athlete with the University of Southern Mississippi and NAIA national champion with William Carey University, is a lifetime runner with a deep passion for the sport and the community that surrounds it.
“I came here over the summer…originally I’m from Mississippi…and I have been running competitively for like 13 years, in high school and in college,” May shared. “Running is just like a big part of my life.”
While in Central Oregon, Lina volunteered with the Beat the Beam Foundation, coaching kids and helped host a summer trail running camp. During that summer, May was on the COCC track when the idea sparked for a running club.
“I was running on the track with one of my friends and they were like, ‘Yeah, COCC doesn’t have a running team,’ and it just… this idea hit me,” she said. “Like, they should have a running team. Bend is such a running community—people love to be outdoors here. There’s so many long-distance runners that I feel like the city would really get behind it.”
After that day on the track, May officially started leading the running club solo, May started to organize practices after spring break. “Right now I’ve had four students so far reach out, and I think after spring break we’re gonna start meeting and get things going.”
The club is open to everyone, regardless of skill or experience level. “We want everyone to come out who just wants to make friends, build some community, explore Bend. If you wanna walk, if you wanna hike, if you wanna just try out your toes in running and see if it is for you, then that’s perfectly OK,” said May.
The running club meets on Wednesdays at 7:30 a.m. for the spring term.
After a quieter season last year, the tennis club is in full swing and now co-ed led by longtime tennis player Brian Reese.
Reese brings years of experience to the court. He played college tennis at the College of DuPage in Illinois, coached high school teams, helped run summer camps, and even worked as a high school coach while attending University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point, where he continued to play in his free time.
Now at COCC, Reese helped relaunch the club, which currently has about six students signed up. “We’ve got the beginnings of a club, and I’m hoping for more,” said Reese. “So we have a variety of teammates to play against and then we can organize and develop a traveling team so we can play with some other schools.”
Practices are currently set for Mondays and Wednesdays from 3:15 to 5:00 p.m. and Saturdays from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m., though times may shift to fit students’ schedules. “The Mondays and Wednesdays are right after some tennis classes, so it would be good to keep those,” he said. “But if the members can’t make it, then we’ll just swap them out.”
Reese is also hoping to start a table tennis club, he has presented the idea to Jacob Swinn, the Sports director of COCC
