What in the hell is going on with the football team from McMinnville, Oregon?

By all accounts, the town of McMinnville, Oregon sounds like a wonderful little slice of Americana. Located 35 miles southwest of Portland, it is the county seat of Yamhill County and is the hometown of children’s author Beverly Cleary and boasts World Series MVP and former Yankee Scott Brosius as one of its residents.
But something sinister has somehow managed to infiltrate the idyllic town: something called “compartment syndrome,” which caused 18 high school football players from McMinnville to be hospitalized last week.
What’s compartment syndrome, you ask? I’m not entirely sure, but according to an AP report, it “caused soreness and swelling in their triceps and high levels of creatine kinase, a protein that can harm the kidneys.” I guess you could say it makes a person’s triceps swell up to such a degree it causes their arms to to resemble Popeye’s bulbous, misshapen arms, only inverted.
Well blow me down!

Ten of the players remain hospitalized and three even required surgery to treat the condition.

Authorities said the cause was not yet known, but the condition can be the result of exercise or the use of certain medications. All but one of the players who became ill worked out last Sunday at the high school’s wrestling room, where one player says the temperature reached 120 degrees.

Yamma hamma. Apparently, the workout was a component of first-year coach Jeff Kearin’s “immersion camp.” Below is video of Senior Jake Montgomery, 17, a linebacker and fullback, describing his experience after Sunday’s practice (via The Oregonian):