Years ago I read a story about a high school runner competing in the state championship meet in Ohio. She was on her way to the finish line in the 3200-meter race when she saw something ahead of her on the track.
It was a rival runner, cramping and struggling to stand.
The approaching runner refused to run past her competitor. Instead, she stopped, slung the kid’s arm over her shoulder and they crossed the finish line together.
I thought about that scene on Friday morning. Because what high school runners in our state need right now is for the state to help them get to the finish line safely. I’m not alone in fearing that runners are going to be seriously injured by a ridiculous mandate set forth by Governor Kate Brown and the Oregon Health Authority.
Distance runners are being required to wear masks while competing. Most of them are fine wearing them while warming up. But once they’re on the track, outdoors, competing in open air, the science just doesn’t support the necessity. In fact, the mandate is now raising questions about athlete safety and oxygen depletion.
“This is absolute craziness,” said one long-time state track and field coach. “Are we going to wait until something catastrophic happens?
“So irresponsible by the authorities.”
On Thursday night at Summit High School, Maggie Williams competed in the 800 meters. She was focused on breaking the school record of 2:10.54 set by Izzy Max. But Williams faced it in the COVID-era, masked up, and still ran a blistering 61 seconds on her opening lap.
Her second lap ended three meters shy of the finish line. Williams collapsed. Face first. She couldn’t see. She couldn’t hear.
As her coach, Dave Turnbull, said: “Complete oxygen debt.”
Williams face-planted, but her momentum carried her across the line. She broke the record by more than two seconds. Good for her. But Summit High is busy monitoring her today for lingering health issues, including a concussion.
A runner collapsing in a competitive distance race isn’t unheard of. It happens sometimes. But state high school coaches will tell you they’re seeing gasping, oxygen-depleted runners on a far more frequent basis this season. Coaches would be in favor of requiring athletes to wear masks to the start line, then take them off to run, then put them back on after the race.
“I’ve been doing this for 31 years, I’ve never seen anybody basically lose consciousness,” Turnbull said. “I’ve never seen that in the way it happened with Maggie.”
Turnbull was so moved he wrote a letter to the OSAA, the state’s governing body on high school sports, on Friday morning. He imploring them to lobby officials to revisit the mask mandate for runners. He’s not alone. I’ve heard from a half dozen long-time high school coaches this week who are puzzled by the bureaucratic stance taken by our state.
They point out that 49 other states don’t require masks for high school distance runners in track and cross country.
That’s everyone else in America, folks.
Just us, alone again.
The OSAA ought to be in the business of helping protect high school athletes. It should not leave the state coaches, parents and this columnist alone to demand a sensible fix. The Oregon Health Authority needs to ask why it’s fine with civilian runners being maskless outdoors but not good with children running maskless on a track or at a cross country meet. And Oregon Gov. Kate Brown needs to recognize the absurdity of the current exemption and do what other states have already done.
Lift the mask mandate for high school runners who compete outdoors.
The state of Washington doesn’t require high school distance runners and cross-country participants to wear masks. But Oregon does? Without a single positive case serving as evidence? It’s why a few high school coaches took their athletes to Olympia this week to compete in the open air, remembering what it was like to run under the open sky without breathing through fibers.
The scene at the finish line of that 800-meter race was troubling. Williams dropped like a bag of bricks, arms at her sides. Any good competitive runner understands that pain is part of the sport. But we’re venturing away from “runner vs. herself” equation here. The mask isn’t necessary while running outdoors where athletes aren’t spending extended periods of time running in close proximity.
Anyone who has attended or participated in a track meet knows this. Anyone who hasn’t won’t get it.
Turnbull told me on Friday morning that Williams is, “doing well.” She has a burn on her face from the track surface. Her elbows and knees are scraped too. School trainers are continuing to monitor her condition. The coach’s email to the OSAA asked, “Do we have ANY pull with the OHA to get this rule changed?”
So? Do we?
So change it before someone gets seriously hurt or dies. Also, another question, why has it been so difficult for our Governor and state health officials to get sports right the first time during this pandemic? We have a pile of examples from the last 14 months. Is there nobody in Salem who understands sports?
Maggie Williams was cruising toward that school record on Thursday. Her first lap was a thing of beauty. The second one should have ended with her breaking the finish line on her feet, gasping but with a smile. Instead, she ran out of oxygen. Her brain shut down. Her lungs quit. She landed on her forehead. Couldn’t hear. Couldn’t see. Her body crashed across the finish line. I wonder if state leaders will notice.
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