Officials from the Detroit Public School League should have postponed the PSL track championships that were held at Detroit Renaissance on May 26 for one reason — the safety of the athletes.
The day started poorly and got progressively worse. Rain didn’t start until about 2 p.m. and all weather reports predicted the rain would continue. As it turned out, the day was miserable. The temperatures steadily went down. The wind blew rain in the faces of the competitors and on race officials underneath the two tents that were set up. The rain persisted so much that puddles formed on the track surface. League officials were fortunate that there were no serious injuries.
The meet could have been re-scheduled. PSL director of athletics Al Ward said it would have been difficult for many of the timekeepers to attend the meet had it been postponed.
Why does it always seem that the welfare of the athletes are the ones who are taken into consideration last?
With the state track finals held this Saturday in the Grand Rapids area, it would have wise to re-schedule the PSL event for early this week, say Tuesday, just as the Catholic League did for its C-D Division track championships.
Shame on the PSL for forcing the athletes to compete in such conditions. It was as if they wanted to get the meet over as soon as possible regardless of the circumstances.
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