The new James Segrest Stadium and the outdoor Fitness Court are complete. OC will celebrate the opening of the new facilities at 11:30 a.m. Feb. 2 with a grand opening, ribbon cutting and an inaugural walk around the new, Wrangler blue track.
The new stadium project began with a naming ceremony and groundbreaking in September 2021, where Coach Segrest was honored and reunited with some of his former student-athletes. At that time, the former coach stated “… it really helped our recruiting to have the good facilities that we had. I know this new facility will do the same thing for the new program coming back.”
He served as the Odessa College head track and field coach from 1973 to 1988 and the OC athletic director from 1988 to 1995. Segrest’s coaching legacy at Odessa College includes 11 NJCAA National Championships – all in just six years.
As Odessa College begins rebuilding a competitive, winning NJCAA Division 1 co-ed cross country and track and field team, the new stadium will provide the OC student athletes a state-of-the-art facility for their practices and competitions and will meet the NJCAA, NCAA and UIL competition standards.
During the Grand Opening ceremony, Vice President for Institutional Advancement Allisa Cornelius will recognize sponsors First Basin Credit Union, National Fitness Council and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas for their support in helping to make this complex the asset to the community that it is.
The stadium complex includes a grand entrance with box office, concessions, and restrooms; a state-of- the-art lighted track and field; terraced seating and picnic areas; grandstands on the east and west sides of the field; a press box; and a multimedia scoreboard.
Adjacent to the stadium, Odessa College in partnership with the National Fitness Council and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas built a new Fitness Court – the world’s best outdoor gym. Odessa College’s Fitness Court is one of only 35 outdoor Fitness Courts in a series of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas Fitness Courts in the growing network across the state.
The Fitness Court will be open to the public and is designed to provide a full body workout in only seven minutes. The outdoor gym lets people use their own body weight to get a complete workout using seven exercise stations. Created with people aged 14 and over and with all abilities in mind, the workouts are adaptable for all fitness levels, allowing participants to move at their own pace. Users of the outdoor court will need to download the free Fitness Court App which acts as a coach-in-your-pocket and enhances the outdoor gym into a digitally supported wellness experience.
Attendees at the grand opening will be treated to a Fitness Court demonstration following the ceremony.
