OLEAN, N.Y. — For the first time since 2015-16, Jamestown Community College-Olean will offer intercollegiate athletics, in a sport new to either of JCC’s campuses: cross country.

JCC announced on Wednesday it would add men’s and women’s cross country for fall 2020 at the Cattaraugus County campus. While the first sports offered at JCC-Olean in nearly five years, the teams will be JCC’s 13th and 14th programs overall, between both campuses.

“For some students, just the opportunity to compete opens the door to a college education, and possibilities that otherwise would have been missed,” JCC president Daniel DeMarte said in a press release. “Reintroducing athletics is essential to the revitalization of JCC’s Cattaraugus County Campus in Olean.”

Athletic director George Sisson told the Times Herald JCC chose cross country as the Olean campus’ first sport after consulting with area high schools for interest.

“After listening to the administration, our board members and our community constituents in that area, they just felt like we needed to do something to bring that part of the college experience back and make it available to our students there in Olean,” Sisson said. “We put together some meetings, we had some input from local high school athletic directors and tried to take a look at what sports in the high school level in that region were productive as far as the number of participants.

“It’s something that we don’t offer here on our main campus. So it’s not like we’re going to be competing for kids or anything of that nature.”

Sisson said JCC planned to announce its hiring of a cross country coach on Thursday. For the first year, the teams — the “Running Jayhawks,” Sisson called them — would play only road invitationals, as most have already been scheduled, but they could explore using an Olean-area site starting in 2021.

“Where we go, and how fast we go in the future, I really don’t know,” Sisson said. “We’re really proud of the fact that we’re trying to be proactive in a really tough situation right now. This COVID-19 curveball that they threw us has been something.

“I know we’re a little bit behind, but I know that there are a lot of young people right now that are very slow in their college decisions because of COVID-19 and how it’s going to pan out.”

The last time JCC-Olean fielded athletic teams, it competed in men’s basketball, women’s soccer and men’s and women’s golf in 2015-16. The men’s soccer and women’s basketball teams were discontinued by the fall of 2009 and softball returned to the Jamestown campus. Sisson said he hopes JCC can continue to add interscholastic sports, and some club programs, to help boost enrollment at the Olean campus.

“Athletics does play a role in the enrollment process,” Sisson said. “We understand that it’s not lacrosse where we’re bringing in 35 guys or girls. If we can attract 10 or 11 high-quality young men and women to come in and find the value that Jamestown Community College has both academically and financially, and now also will participate at the Division III junior college level, that’s a step in the right direction. So if we have some success there, maybe in the near future we can start to look into some other opportunities and options available to us there.

“Again it’s to enhance the overall experience,” Sisson added. “You understand what athletics mean to St. Bonaventure, not only for the athletes that are participating but also for the kids that just love to immerse themselves in being part of the Bonnie fanatics. And the passion and all that stuff that goes with it. So our hope is that we can do it right and we really think we are.”