Tina (Oprean) Ryee was elevated to the role of Director of Track & Field and Cross Country in August of 2022. In total, the 2022-23 season will be Ryee's fifth on the coaching staff with the Pioneers.
2021 saw Ryee promoted to the Head Distance Coach for the entire running program. That year the Pioneers put four runners on the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) Cross Country All-Conference Team, and Mackenna Curtis-Collins advanced all the way to the NCAA Division II National Championship meet.
In the summer of 2020 Ryee was named the Head Women's Cross Country and Distance coach. That season Mackenna Curtis-Collins won her second-consecutive individual Great Midwest Athletic Conference championship, and the Pioneers put four total runners on the G-MAC Cross Country All-Conference Team. Curtis-Collins went on to qualify for the NCAA Division II National Championships in both indoor and outdoor track & field. At the indoor championships she placed third overall in the 3,000 meter run to earn All-American honors. Hannah Thompson joined Curtis-Collins as a national championship qualifier in outdoor track & field.
After a highly decorated career as a student-athlete at Malone, she worked as a graduate assistant for the running program in both 2018 and 2019.
As a student-athlete for the Pioneers, she became Malone's first ever NCAA Division II All-American in 2013, and recorded a third-place finish at the NCAA Division II Midwest Region Cross Country Championships. Ryee set two Malone records: the 5,000 meter (16:54.56) and 1,500 meter (4:35.32) and is in the top-10 list for a variety of events. She has won multiple all-conference awards in the GLIAC in both cross country and track. At the national level, Tina was an NCAA national qualifier in the 5,000 meter for track and field and won a USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Week award.
In high school at local Canton Central Catholic, Ryee competed at the OHSAA State Championships for cross country twice, including a runner up finish. She acquired accolades such as 4x All-Stark County, Cross County District Champion and Cross Country Regional Champion. Ryee competed for the All Star Team Ohio Cross Country Team, and was a participant in the Midwest Cross Country Championship. In track, she was a two time state qualifier, a District Champion in the 1,600 meter and placed seventh in the event at the OHSAA State Championships.
