‘This never happens’: Coaches, Parents share horrifying track meet experience that left one parent dead
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - Many El Paso County families are recovering after a traumatic accident at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS), on Sunday morning during a high school weight-throwing event, a weight cleared certified barriers and struck a man, killing him.
Around 9 a.m., a high school club track and field meet was being held on UCCS grounds at the Mountain Lion Fieldhouse. Colorado Springs Police tell KRDO13 a father reportedly jumped up to protect his wife and son from an incoming weight.
"It just it doesn't happen. You know, like I said, this never happens," said Coach Keenen Ballage.
On Monday, the El Paso County Coroner's Office released the identity of the deceased man as 57-year-old Wade Langston.
The Head Coach, President of Dream Chasers T&F, and Head Coach of Falcon High School Track and Field tells KRDO13 he’s never seen this in his 11 years of coaching. Keenen Ballage says he knew of someone in his dorm in college who had been hit with a weight during a weight-throwing event, however, that person was in a coma. He says it's something you never want to see.
RELATED: Weight throw accident at Colorado Springs high school club track meet kills one
As sprinters were wrapping up the 60-meter dash— witnesses tell KRDO13 a teen competing in the weight throw event accidentally launched a weight above the net meant to protect spectators. UCCS says event organizers did certify the netting ahead of the meet, and it passed.
One track parent at the meet says their daughter was walking off their sprint when they heard people screaming.
The weight hit a track father who was there to support his son.
"That individual happened to be in those bleachers right in front of that netting. I mean, it could have been anyone," explained a parent in attendance.
Families were quickly evacuated from the building, where police say the man was pronounced dead at the scene.
"There was an incredible amount of grown-ups small children teenage children that unfortunately, given the nature of the event in a small facility, were exposed to seeing that," explained an athlete's father.
The incident left many in the track community traumatized.
"It's just something that's going to be a part of the track community in Colorado for a long time if not forever. I don't doubt that we won't ever throw the weight throw again," said Ballage.
He says several athletic directors are expected to reach out to students who were at the meet to check in and offer counseling and other support services. The UCCS indoor track remains closed through at least Monday, Jan. 27.
