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

SPANISH FORK, Utah (KSL.com) — It was a moment neither had hoped they’d never have to encounter, but two Spanish Fork High students were prepared by an elective class a year before to help save a man’s life at a local cross-country meet Saturday.

PJ Merrill and Trayven Elquist were near the Dons’ team tent at the annual UIAAA Invitational at Spanish Fork Sports Park when they saw a group of Carbon High students coalesce around a 49-year-old man who had fallen.

One of them said a spectator whose son was participating in one of the races was having a seizure, and the classmates raced to the scene. A year ago, both had taken an emergency medical response class at the high school and the two juniors recalled their training.

After calling for help from the athletic trainers on-site — Spanish Fork’s Rory Eyring and Krista Taylor, from Maple Mountain, were the first to arrive — the teenagers noticed something about the victim that seemed off.

“He was lying perfectly still,” Elquist said.

Merrill, who saw the unmistakable blue lips of the victim, said, “It seemed like he could be going into cardiac arrest, and was making funny noises.”

While Elquist called 911 and began to flag down an ambulance making its way to the park, Merrill began to administer CPR via chest compressions.

From the other side of the 3-mile course, Eyring and Taylor arrived at the scene and set up a perimeter with Salem Hills’ Aubrie Robinette to keep the nearly 5,000-person crowd away from the victim, save for a bystander who identified himself as a physician.

Taylor and the physician took over CPR, and Eyring retrieved the automatic external defibrillator, or AED, he had in his golf cart as part of his long-established emergency action plan for the multiyear event.

After hooking up two electrode patches on the victim’s chest, the group restarted the man’s heart, before a crew from the Spanish Fork Fire Department and emergency medical services loaded him into an ambulance and took him to the hospital.

The man was fully conscious and able to carry on a conversation with emergency personnel thanks to the quick actions of a handful of high school students and the athletic trainers, the responders said.

“They followed the plan to a T. One player called 911, his teammate started doing compressions, and another ran to the medical tent to contact me, Krista, and my BYU student to come take over,” said Eyring, who prepares each year with medical equipment and three 110-gallon tubs filled with ice water to address exertional heat stroke, as well.

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

Speaking with KSL.com a few days later, Merrill and Elquist both admitted to being emotionally shaken by the experience. But they were relieved that the outcome didn’t prove fatal.

“I was relieved we got a pulse back,” Merrill said.

Added Elquist: “It was crazy.”

After the meet, the crew returned to the park and awarded the first responders with a set of Spanish Fork EMS challenge coins, which they said had never been awarded before to a civilian.

“On-duty crews wanted to recognize this team for their life-saving actions and decided to present challenge coins to all involved,” said Spanish Fork battalion chief Blake Edwards in a statement. “Challenge coins — typically reserved for recognizing firefighters for extraordinary actions — were presented to the sports medicine group in appreciation of their heroic efforts.

“Spanish Fork Fire and EMS extend heartfelt congratulations to the sports medicine teams of both high schools, the teachers who emphasize the importance of life-saving skills, the BYU interns who did not hesitate to apply their training, and the students of those two high schools who volunteered their time to support their peers and the community at this event.”

An emotional Deeannna Child caught up KSL-TV from a hospital room where husband Farris was recovering from quintuple bypass surgery following the incident.

“They are a miracle to us,” she said. “They’re amazing. I don’t think I would have had the strength to do that as a teenager … He had died. His heart had stopped, and they brought him back.”

From those classes a year ago, to Saturday’s meet, the emergency response plan helped save a life and put a real-world application into practice.

“That, to me, is the whole reason why we teach these classes,” Taylor said. “I can’t be everywhere, nor can Rory or any of our other athletic trainers. But these students can be an extension of us and can save a life. There’s no other class like that on campus, where you can get the skills that directly impact somebody’s life in such a drastic way.”

With more than 1,500 athletes scattered across nine races at the meet, Eyring has spent nine years developing and refining plans that account for runners and spectators alike. But he also admits he’s been fortunate to have the help of athletic trainers from Provo, Springville, Maple Mountain, Salem Hills, Payson and other surrounding areas to manage the meet’s participants and spectators.

“My biggest thing has always been preparation — and sometimes it feels like it’s too much,” Eyring said. “But I never want to be caught unprepared.”

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