MONROE COUNTY (WWJ) - Dozens of student athletes attending cross country practice at a Monroe County high school could run, but they couldn't hide from a horde of aggressive wasps on Thursday afternoon.
Officials for Airport Community Schools said 20 to 30 students from their middle school and Junior Jets cross country runners were stung by the insects as they were practicing on Airport High School's course, located at 11330 Grafton Road in Carleton.
Reports state the children were moved inside while officials confirmed first responders from multiple agencies arrived at the school to provide medical treatment.
Each student was checked by medical personnel and no allergic reactions were reported. None of the students needed to be taken to the hospital and were treated at the scene.
School officials praised all individuals who helped in the incident.
"I am proud of the first responders in their care of our students," they wrote in an emailed update to parents and students. "I would also like to give a shout out to our Jets football program, as these student athletes assisted with some of our younger students who were scared. Go Jets!!"
The latest -- and potentially dangerous -- wasp encounter comes more than a month after Pontiac officials were forced to immediately close Optimist Park over safety hazards due to the "extremely aggressive" ground hornets.
According to Howard Russell, MSU Diagnostic Services, Department of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences, tackling a wasp issue is "tricky business."
"As many of us know, the occupants of these nests tend to resist any effort to kill them by stinging the daylights out of those attempting to do so," Russell wrote of the insects.
In Michigan, yellow jackets, bald-faced hornets and paper wasps construct nests in the ground, in trees, under eves and inside wall voids and attics in late spring and throughout summer.
August leading into September is a particularly active month for colonies as they reach their maximum size of worker wasps, with yellow jackets known to swell to numbers between one or two thousand.
"The last brood raised includes males and next year’s queens. Due to the importance of these reproductives, the worker wasps become very protective and aggressive toward those who venture too close to the nest this time of year," Russell explained.
MSU Extension recommended pest control professionals take care of large nests of yellow jackets and bald-faced hornets.