Runner Dies After 12 Days in Coma

Jason Kortekaas, a cross-country runner for Victorville Silverado High, died Wednesday evening at Loma Linda University Medical Center, where he had been in a coma since collapsing in a meet 12 days earlier, said John O’Neill, principal at Silverado.

The cause of Kortekaas’ collapse was unknown. An autopsy was scheduled for later this week.

Kortekaas, a 17-year-old senior, collapsed while running in a Division III race in the Yucaipa Invitational at Yucaipa High on Sept. 29.

Jim Clendaniel, the meet director and Yucaipa coach, declined to provide details about the incident, but said no other runners collapsed during the meet.

Although the meet was held during the recent heat wave in Southern California, Clendaniel said the conditions were not oppressive that day.

Coaches Erik Starkey of Chino Hills Ayala and Jim Duarte of Barstow, whose teams ran in the Yucaipa meet, expressed sentiments similar to Clendaniel’s.

“It wasn’t anything unusual,” Starkey said of the heat. “It was starting to heat up in the last race we ran, but it wasn’t too bad before that.”

Duarte said that it was a “hot day, but not as hot as it’s been there in the past.”

Starkey estimated the Division I races in the morning were run while temperatures were in the 80s.

The Division III races were held in the late morning and early afternoon. Temperatures had climbed into the 90s and eventually broke 100.

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Associated Press contributed to this report.