These Readers Like Looks of Prep Coverage

I want to thank Barbie Ludovise for her excellent column today (Oct. 20) on the Mt. SAC cross-country invitational. I was there on Friday when the meet began, and conditions were already brutal. My daughter was one of the many who collapsed. I saw 12 beds at the first aid station filled with runners who needed help. I heard a public address appeal for immediate help for a runner who was down and “not breathing.” What surprises me is not that the meet was stopped but that it went on so long. It should have been canceled long before.

Those were children participating “for fun”; they were not professional athletes. Barbie had it exactly right; they need to be protected by their coaches. I only hope that the coaches pay heed.

PAUL C. EKLOF, Costa Mesa