By Doug Fletcher and Justin Pelletier,Staff Writers

POLAND – A sophomore track-and-field athlete who collapsed on the high school’s outdoor track Monday while training with three teammates remained hospitalized Wednesday at Tufts-New England Medical Center in Boston.

A hospital spokeswoman said Duncan Bishop was being treated in the pediatric intensive care unit.

Poland Regional High School Principal Bill Doughty said Bishop was in stable condition Wednesday afternoon.

He was first taken to St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center in Lewiston before being transferred to the Boston hospital.

“What we know to this point is that his condition is somehow related to some kind of deficiency in the blood vessels in his brain,” Doughty said.

Ray Lafreniere, Poland’s dean of students, said he’s been staying in contact with Bishop’s parents, who are with their son in Boston. The family has asked that its privacy be respected, Lafreniere said. He added that Bishop is “a great kid, a good athlete and a good all-around student.”

Many of Bishop’s classmates have been checking in at Lafreniere’s office for updates.

“Our primary concern here is with his family,” said Doughty. “Ray (Lafreniere) has been the point person on this. Duncan was one of his runners in cross country this fall.”

The school’s crisis response team discussed the situation early Tuesday morning and then met with the faculty to apprise them of the situation, Doughty said.

The team then turned its attention to the students.

“We put together a brief notice for the students, too,” said Doughty, “and we informed them during the first block of classes (Tuesday). We had guidance counselors ready, and we also set up our conference room if students wanted to talk about it.

“We had another meeting (Wednesday) morning, and the topic came up of fund raising,” continued Doughty. “A couple of the roundtables (groups of students at the school, similar to teams or homerooms), especially (Bishop’s), wanted to do something, as could be expected. Right now, the idea we’re working on is pulling something together that can help in the long term, because this looks like it’s going to be that kind of situation.”

Doughty said the committee is working on finalizing plans to sell items, with the proceeds going to benefit Bishop’s family.

“The pieces of something like that aren’t final, though, but we’ll let people know as soon as they are,” Doughty said.

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