As junior Dan Thompson sprinted along the cross country course, he thought his only opponents were the runners on the other team.  He was wrong.  The real threat he would face on the course ended up being a nest-full of angry, agitated, swarming bees.

During time trials, early in the season, Thompson was stung by several bees on the cross country course.  The incident occurred near the small, wooden bridge between the soccer field and the smaller pond on campus.

Thompson finished the time trial, but soon after, began to get hives, and it was clear that he had an allergic reaction.  After informing athletic trainer Erik Fabriziani about the incident,  Thompson received an Epi-pen, which appeared to successfully suppress his allergenic symptoms.

However around 11 o’clock that night, Thompson had a second allergic reaction.  His mom promptly called 911, and Thompson was taken to the hospital.  Thompson stayed at the hospital until 3 am.

A week later, the cross country team competed in a meet against Calvert Hall.  But the bees were back for more.

A mile into his race, Thompson was stung by the swarm of bees again.  Afraid of suffering from the same symptoms as the last time, Thompson immediately notified his coach and trainer. They called 911, and an ambulance arrived to transport Thompson to the hospital.  Even though Thompson showed no symptoms after the sting, he took medication to prevent an allergic reaction and had to stay in the hospital for several hours.

Although Thompson has had the most traumatic experience with the bees, he was not the only cross county member affected.  Other members of the cross country teams were stung by the bees. Several were stung multiple times, including senior captain Ian Richardson, who was stung three times during his race.  However, the threat of the bees did not stop the team from persevering through their race.  “You just went through it hoping not to get stung, but if you did, you kept running anyway,” said Richardson.

Thompson did not blame the school for allowing the bee incident to occur. “It’s really not their fault.  The school did everything they could to prevent it,” he said.

Once the cross country bee incident occurred, the maintenance staff immediately made efforts to remove the bees.  The staff called an exterminator service, King Bee Apiary, and the company sprayed the area with pesticide.

Director of Facilities David Moxey reported that bees have become an especially big problem this year. “This is their season to run rampant,” Moxey said.

Only so much can be done to prevent bees from nesting.  “You can’t spray the entire grounds with pesticides – it would just kill everything.” Moxey said.

The bee problem seems to be under control for now.  As for Thompson, he doesn’t seem fazed by his encounter with the bees. “It’s in the past,” he said.

Erin Hanratty can be reached for comment at [email protected].