The Sporting Way

May 5, 2026

With a proud history of championing sports, COCC offers coaching, competition and exercise resources for students and the community

Mud-plastered legs are a badge of honor for competitors of the “Jungle Run,” the annual fun run at Central Oregon Community College that follows four miles of hilly Bend campus terrain, navigating obstacles and sloshing through a shin-deep gulch. Snakes are on the course, too — but they’re rubber (usually), redeemable for prizes. Yes, it might be a jungle out there, but at least the snakes are harmless.

This year’s race is being run on May 7, and soon after, runners can “Storm the Stairs” on May 19, which starts with a flat track section and then unravels up and over 465 heart-pounding steps, tracing the campus’s steep contours. Both annual races — now crossing their 30th anniversaries — double as scholarship fundraisers. They routinely draw a diverse field: high school track athletes, weekend warriors, racing diehards, active families.

“These are long-standing, high-energy races,” says James DiRosa, assistant director of COCC’s club and intramural sports and a former personal trainer. “They’re a great way to engage with the community while supporting students.” Runners can register at cocc.edu/sports.

Athletic endeavors have a deeply ingrained history at COCC, dating back to its early years. The college, founded in 1949, quickly saw the importance of sporting options for students.

“In ‘55, it was just basketball,” recalls Jim Crowell of Bend, who set the school’s record — stamping 34 points on the board — in a 96-67 rout of Oregon Tech. “We played maybe 18 games,” Crowell remembers of the season, which took on JV squads from places like Willamette University and Portland State, and hosted home campaigns in the old Kenwood brick gym on Newport Ave.

Back then, the college — sharing quarters with Bend High School — was solely a night school. Its mascot, the nighthawk, was a nod to the school’s evening hours. But when the campus moved to its current home on Awbrey Butte in 1964, and with the college no longer limited to night studies, the bird got nudged into retirement. The students voted for a new mascot, the bobcat, partially inspired by a presentation from a former circus trainer who’d brought several of the tamed cats along to show. Clever, strong and adaptable, the animal made an impression.

COCC Bobcats would make an impression of their own — especially on snow. In March of 1976, wearing cowboy hats and hauling ski bags, COCC’s 18-person ski team must have cut quite the image moving through Vermont’s Burlington airport. They were heading to the National Junior College Athletic Association Ski Championships at Smuggler’s Notch, and of the 15 college teams converging on the three-day ski-off that year, they were the only Westerners.

The team won all alpine and Nordic events, in both men’s and women’s categories. In its first-ever national sporting competition, a small community college from Central Oregon had, in spectacular fashion — and with a Nordic team member unexpectedly filling in for an injured downhiller — claimed the national title.

COCC intercollegiate play would grow to field teams in golf, wrestling, track, even rodeo, among other sports. And from cross-country teams winning the Nike Cup in 1988, to track-and-field athletes filling the top-two podium spots at the 1994 national championships in Odessa, Texas, COCC proved formidable. Bobcat club baseball, currently not fielding a team, ranked 25th in the country back in 2015. Impressive for a school that doesn’t recruit or have a baseball diamond.
 
Today’s offerings at COCC are diverse, including a coed intramural basketball league — considered the highest level of competitive hoops in Bend — plus volleyball, pickleball and tennis intramural offerings.

“We’re hosting intramural leagues every week,” says DiRosa, referencing the basketball and volleyball contests that are open to both students and dues-paying community members. “We’re trying to make the sports program more robust. Golf participated in a tournament in Hood River a few weeks ago, the running club has some momentum.”

Intercollegiate clubs, such as running, are designed without full eligibility conditions. But they offer or facilitate outside competition. Clubs also include tennis, soccer and — filling the pitch with more teammates each year — rugby. Having formed in 2012, rugby rostered 33 players this past season.

Connor Huet, a first-year engineering student, plays alongside his identical twin, Tristan. “I decided to try out for the team once I met coach Max — his personality and friendliness instantly made me sign up,” says Huet. The brothers learned rugby at Summit High, so COCC was a great fit. “I think it is such an amazing part of what COCC offers…something fun and meaningful to be a part of.”

Their team goes toe-to-toe with Division III programs and recently made it to the championship match of the Northwest Collegiate Rugby Conference in Ellensburg, Washington, losing a hard-fought final to the University of Idaho.

COCC is also constantly listening to what students might like to try. Current conversations include women’s rugby, ultimate Frisbee, inline hockey and flag football. This fall, in fact, the Bend campus is for the first time hosting an NFL-affiliated youth flag football camp, run by Next Athlete, that’s expected to build some local interest and engagement. For the growing Madras campus, basketball and bowling are being considered as that site’s first-ever sports options.  

Crossing over into educations, Bobcats can earn college credit and get a workout at the same time. A broad catalog of exercise-based courses covers general focuses like weight training and Pilates, with specialty studies in things like Brazilian jujitsu, masters swimming and hip-hop aerobic dance.

It’s an active place. For students and community athletes alike, the physiology lab provides access to V02 max and body composition testing, conducted by an on-staff fitness expert. The gym and weight room are also open to members of the public (currently for $124 per term). And community runners frequently loop the college’s Smurf-blue track, setting up starting blocks or running intervals.

“There are so many opportunities,” says DiRosa, whose goal is to include more Central Oregonians in athletics at COCC and cultivate the sporting culture. To see what’s in the playbook, visit cocc.edu/sports.