2 Utah teens, athletic trainers save man’s life at high school cross country meet

Sean Walker, KSL.com

SPANISH FORK, Utah (KSL.com) — It was a infinitesimal neither had hoped they’d ne'er person to encounter, but 2 Spanish Fork High students were prepared by an elective people a twelvemonth earlier to thief prevention a man’s life astatine a section cross-country meet Saturday.

PJ Merrill and Trayven Elquist were adjacent nan Dons’ squad shelter astatine nan yearly UIAAA Invitational astatine Spanish Fork Sports Park erstwhile they saw a group of Carbon High students coalesce astir a 49-year-old man who had fallen.

One of them said a spectator whose boy was participating successful 1 of nan races was having a seizure, and nan classmates raced to nan scene. A twelvemonth ago, some had taken an emergency aesculapian consequence people astatine nan precocious schoolhouse and nan 2 juniors recalled their training.

After calling for thief from nan diversion trainers on-site — Spanish Fork’s Rory Eyring and Krista Taylor, from Maple Mountain, were nan first to get — nan teenagers noticed thing astir nan unfortunate that seemed off.

“He was lying perfectly still,” Elquist said.

Merrill, who saw nan unmistakable bluish lips of nan victim, said, “It seemed for illustration he could beryllium going into cardiac arrest, and was making funny noises.”

While Elquist called 911 and began to emblem down an ambulance making its measurement to nan park, Merrill began to administer CPR via thorax compressions.

From nan different broadside of nan 3-mile course, Eyring and Taylor arrived astatine nan segment and group up a perimeter pinch Salem Hills’ Aubrie Robinette to support nan astir 5,000-person crowd distant from nan victim, prevention for a bystander who identified himself arsenic a physician.

Taylor and nan expert took complete CPR, and Eyring retrieved nan automatic outer defibrillator, aliases AED, he had successful his play cart arsenic portion of his long-established emergency action scheme for nan multiyear event.

After hooking up 2 electrode patches connected nan victim’s chest, nan group restarted nan man’s heart, earlier a unit from nan Spanish Fork Fire Department and emergency aesculapian services loaded him into an ambulance and took him to nan hospital.

The man was afloat conscious and capable to transportation connected a speech pinch emergency unit acknowledgment to nan speedy actions of a fistful of precocious schoolhouse students and nan diversion trainers, nan responders said.

Spanish Fork High student PJ Merrill, center, stands pinch diversion trainers Rory Eyring, near of center, and Krista Taylor pinch EMS crews from nan Spanish Fork occurrence section aft performing life-saving CPR connected a diligent during nan UIAAA Invitational transverse state meet astatine Spanish Fork Sports Park, Saturday, Aug. 24, 2024. | Courtesy Patty Fahringer via KSL.com

“They followed nan scheme to a T. One subordinate called 911, his teammate started doing compressions, and different ran to nan aesculapian shelter to interaction me, Krista, and my BYU student to travel return over,” said Eyring, who prepares each twelvemonth pinch aesculapian instrumentality and 3 110-gallon tubs filled pinch crystal h2o to reside exertional power stroke, arsenic well.

“Those kids knew what to do because they had taken our classes, and past our emergency action scheme worked flawlessly. Everything worked.”

Speaking pinch KSL.com a fewer days later, Merrill and Elquist some admitted to being emotionally shaken by nan experience. But they were relieved that nan result didn’t beryllium fatal.

“I was relieved we sewage a beat back,” Merrill said.

Added Elquist: “It was crazy.”

After nan meet, nan unit returned to nan parkland and awarded nan first responders pinch a group of Spanish Fork EMS situation coins, which they said had ne'er been awarded earlier to a civilian.

“On-duty crews wanted to admit this squad for their life-saving actions and decided to coming situation coins to each involved,” said Spanish Fork battalion main Blake Edwards successful a statement. “Challenge coins — typically reserved for recognizing firefighters for bonzer actions — were presented to nan sports medicine group successful appreciation of their heroic efforts.

“Spanish Fork Fire and EMS widen heartfelt congratulations to nan sports medicine teams of some precocious schools, nan teachers who stress nan value of life-saving skills, nan BYU interns who did not hesitate to use their training, and nan students of those 2 precocious schools who volunteered their clip to support their peers and nan organization astatine this event.”

An affectional Deeannna Child caught up KSL-TV from a infirmary room wherever hubby Farris was recovering from quintuple bypass room pursuing nan incident.

“They are a occurrence to us,” she said. “They’re amazing. I don’t deliberation I would person had nan spot to do that arsenic a teen … He had died. His bosom had stopped, and they brought him back.”

From those classes a twelvemonth ago, to Saturday’s meet, nan emergency consequence scheme helped prevention a life and put a real-world exertion into practice.

“That, to me, is nan full logic why we thatch these classes,” Taylor said. “I can’t beryllium everywhere, nor tin Rory aliases immoderate of our different diversion trainers. But these students tin beryllium an hold of america and tin prevention a life. There’s nary different people for illustration that connected campus, wherever you tin get nan skills that straight effect somebody’s life successful specified a drastic way.”

With much than 1,500 athletes scattered crossed 9 races astatine nan meet, Eyring has spent 9 years processing and refining plans that relationship for runners and spectators alike. But he besides admits he’s been fortunate to person nan thief of diversion trainers from Provo, Springville, Maple Mountain, Salem Hills, Payson and different surrounding areas to negociate nan meet’s participants and spectators.

“My biggest point has ever been mentation — and sometimes it feels for illustration it’s excessively much,” Eyring said. “But I ne'er want to beryllium caught unprepared.”

On Saturday, nan group wasn’t caught unprepared — and a man’s life was saved because of it.