Student killed by lightning at high school track meet

[kaorder1999]

Student killed by lightning at high school track meet

04:03 PM CDT on Friday, March 30, 2007

Associated Press

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- A lightning strike killed a high school runner as he left a pole vault pit shortly before a track meet, the county coroner said.

"It came out of nowhere," said Scott Hankey, Carbondale Community High School's baseball coach, whose team was preparing for a game nearby. "There was a very, very light rain. There wasn't anything in the way of dark clouds. It didn't look anything like a thunderstorm."

Corey Williams, 18, was returning to the main track area from the pole vault pit about 4 p.m. when the lightning bolt hit him. Coaches and others tried to revive him, but he was pronounced dead by the time he reached a hospital.

Thomas Kupferer, Jackson County's coroner, confirmed that lightning killed the teenager.

When Williams was struck, National Weather Service radar showed some lightning in the area, but it was not considered significant enough to issue an advisory or warning, meteorologist Mike Nadolksi said Friday.

More than 200 people attended a candlelight vigil for Williams on Thursday night, and classes at the school were canceled Friday to give the students time to grieve. Williams' mother, Vanessa Webb, shared hugs with dozens of the students.

"This was my son. Why did this happen?" she said.

Classmate Robert Krajewski described Williams as laid back and "just a really nice guy."

[Maroon87]

:eek: :(

[kaorder1999]

that town and school needs your prayers...i know what they are going through.
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Lightning hits field, injures 15 in Forney, Texas
From a Dallas-Fort Worth newspaper (August 29, 1995)

A bolt of lightning jolted a high school football field during afternoon practice yesterday, injuring 12 players, two coaches and a student trainer in the small town of Forney, 20 miles east of Dallas.

Sophomore Clay Jones, 15, suffered cardiac arrest and burns. He remained in critical condition last night at Baylor University Medical Cetner in Dallas.

Three students were in stable condition last night, five were still being evaluated and four others, including the female trainer, were treated and released, said Jeff Place, the evening administrator at Baylor.

The coaches-Brad Turner and Horlos Cotton Barrett - were released from the Medical Center of Mesquite about 8 p.m., a hospital spokeswoman said.

A light drizzle had just stopped when lightning hit the football field at 3:56 p.m. during daily practice of the combined varsity and junior varsity squads. The jolt left more than 30 players and coaches sprawled on the turf.

"We all hit the ground, and it was quiet for two or three seconds until they told us to hit the fieldhouse," said Oscar Rivera, 17, a varsity linebacker.

Coaches of the District 12-3A team stayed on the field, giving first aid to two junior varsity players who remained on the ground - Jones and sophomore Nick Purvis.

"It was like an explosion," said Rivera. You could feel it, and you smelled it burning."

Defensive end Raphael Dewberry said: "We heard a thump, and we all hit the ground. I was real close to one of the guys who got hit bad. I felt like a thump in my helmet, like somebody hit me with a bat or something. We all laid on the ground and on the count of three we all ran into the fieldhouse."

Once inside the fieldhouse, the players prayed.

"Right after we prayed was when they said they got a pulse on Clay," said Sean Daugherty, 17, a varsity linebacker.

"If this kid makes it, it's probably due to some fast acting by the coaches" who administered cardiopulmonary resusciatation, Forney Police Chief Rick Barnes said.

Daugherty and Rivera were among dozens of players and parents who converged at the Baylor emergency room last night, keeping tabs on the injured who had arrived still dressed in their football jerseys.

Addendum. Clay Jones died from his injuries a few weeks later. Lightning reportedly struck his helmet and the jolt of electricity sent him into cardiac arrest. A week prior to his death, hist parents said that their son's vital signs were strong but that his brain was swollen and that their biggest concern was potential brain damage. They said then that doctors had told them it could be days or weeks before the extent of damage was known.

[bhtrainer]

thats so sad...yet random