Paul Short Run: Mass casualties

The perfect storm of high heat, humidity, no shade and thousands of sweaty people made for a serious medical mess at Saturday’s Paul Short XC meet at Lehigh University. On the runhigh.com results page, the following short note was posted: “Events were cancelled by the regional EMS services. Hot, humid conditions contributed to an overwhelming number of heat related problems. It was difficult for EMS services to meet the demand of the casualties. At one time, six ambulances, three fire trucks and multiple EMS services were on site.” All races up to and including the men's white race were held. The women's white race and all high school races were canceled. 

We wound up in a local hospital ER with senior captain Billy Posch, who succumbed to heat-related issues after the race. After great care by his teammates on site and a few IV bags of fluids in the hospital, he bounced back to normal and we returned to campus late Saturday night. While being treated in the ER, we overheard one of the ER docs matter-of-factly using the term “mass casualties” when referring to the Paul Short meet. Wow. More in a bit when I can better compose my thoughts. Sorry I missed many alums this weekend, but one of our brothers goes down we must be with him every step of the way.