> SELECT *, count(e.athID) ... group by m.meetID
The "*" will return arbitrary results for all columns except meetid and athid. Read the manual page on aggregation.
> ... FROM entry_meets m
> left join entry_pack p ... where ... p.status='Accepted' ...
The Where condition on p.status effectively turns the left join into an inner join. To avoid that, write ...
select m.meetid, ifnull( p.pcount, 0 ) as entrypacks
from entry_meets m
left join (
select meetid, count(*) as pcount
from entry_pack
where p.status='Accepted'
) on p.meetID = m.meetID
> get all the meets with entry counts (from entry forms that have been accepted) including meets with no entry forms?