RICHMOND COUNTY, Ga. (WJBF) – A few student-athletes received medical treatment after a cross-country meet on Thursday.
According to representatives with the Richmond County School System, Westside High School sponsored an invitational cross-country meet on Thursday at Diamond Lakes where more than 600 student-athletes were in attendance.
Officials say there were students who became unwell, and those who did become unwell during the event were provided medical treatment on-site.
Officials say that the Georgia High School Association requirements for a cross-country event were followed which includes taking the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature, having an emersion tub at the finish line, and providing a water station on the course.
According to McDuffie County School System, the Thomson High School Varsity Team ran during the first race and had multiple team members’ performance and health impacted by the heat. One runner was treated on-scene and released to their parents afterward, while another Thomson High runner had to be hospitalized – that runner was treated and released later Thursday night.
Columbia County School District says that a student from Grovetown High was transported by EMS to an area hospital from the Cross Country meet at Diamond Lakes and later released the same day.
The Thomson Cross Country coach, according to a spokesperson for McDuffie County School System, said that she decided to pull all Thomson runners out of the meet after the first match, because of her concerns about letting their Junior Varsity Cross Country runners participate in subsequent races after multiple runners from their school and others had to be treated for health-related illness.
WJBF asked Richmond County School System for a specific number of injuries reported during Thursday’s meet, but have yet to receive that information.
Richmond County School System has also declined to provide information about whether any of their student athletes were treated on-site or hospitalized due to heat-related illness.
