Luke Swearingin was a well-known and well-liked student and Special Olympian. Officials said he fell to the floor in gym class. Staff members rushed to his aid, started to perform CPR and then called 911.  Paramedics came to the school to take Swearingin to a Lee’s Summit hospital, where he died.

“He was a friendly kid, an outgoing kid,” said Raymore-Peculiar Superintendent Jeff Kyle. “He had a lot of fun, played on our Special Olympics basketball team and was always high-fiving people. He loved to talk with you, was an avid dancer. (He was) just one of those kids that just made you feel good all the time.”

Swearingin’s basketball team won a bronze medal at a tournament in Belton two weeks ago.

A 19-year-old Chicago State University student collapsed and died while playing basketball at the South Side university, officials said this morning.  The student, Jerome Porter, of the 8100 block of South Woodlawn Avenue, died at Advocate Trinity Hospital, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

An autopsy, scheduled for later today, could determine how the engineering studies student died.  Porter was playing a pickup basketball game at the Jacoby Dickens gymnasium on the campus near 95th Street and King Drive when he suddenly collapsed, according to a news release from CSU officials.  The university will offer counseling services to students, staff and family members, officials said.

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“We were very saddened to learn of the loss of one of our outstanding student-athletes,” FMHS Principal Greg Smith said. “Jesse was well-loved and respected by his peers and the staff at the high school.  ”We’re going to continue to support our students and parents here as we go through the grieving.”  Smith said he was told that Ross was at work Sunday along with some fellow classmates. He collapsed and died shortly thereafter.

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A day after a Perry Hall High School student collapsed on the field at Catonsville High School, parents and school officials are praising the quick thinking of bystanders and coaches who came to the girl’s rescue.

Breanna Sudano collapsed and was not breathing after her junior varsity team field hockey team played Catonsville around 5 p.m. Tuesday.  Lindsey Springer, the varsity coach for Catonsville’s field hockey team, said that multiple parents and coaches rushed to the field to help perform CPR on Sudano.

High School Principal Deborah Bittner and Athletic Director David Lane said Catonsville JV coach Christine Erlichman, one of the Perry Hall coaches and two parents with CPR training, administered CPR to Sudando. The parents were identified as Shelly Hunt and Melissa Law.  Coaches who work for Baltimore County are required to be trained in CPR, according to schools spokesperson Charles Herndon.

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The sudden death of a seemingly healthy 12-year-old boy at a Holden soccer camp this past summer shocked camp workers and traumatized fellow campers.

The youth, Joshua D. Thibodeau of Holden, had no obvious pre-existing health condition and his family had completed a medical waiver and everything else required to clear their son for participation in the private program. Tragically, he collapsed and died July 18 during a low-impact drill with 15 other campers.

Joshua’s cause of death, according to the state medical examiner’s office in Boston, was cardiac dysrhythmia complicating hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, an inherited condition that affects approximately 1 in 500 people. Every year, there are similar horrific stories of young people suddenly collapsing and dying during sporting events.

According to the American Heart Association, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, or HCM, is the most common cause of death in athletes younger than 35, responsible for about one-third of deaths. The heart muscle fibers of those afflicted multiply rapidly, especially during adolescence, leading to an enlarged heart that could be double or triple the normal size.

Cardiac dysrhythmia is a term encompassing various types of irregular heartbeats — from annoying to life threatening. If such a beat happens while a person with HCM is exercising, the electrical system in the heart suddenly fails and a heart attack occurs. Usually those with HCM have no idea they have the condition until disaster strikes.

Can the condition be discovered beforehand via an electrocardiogram as part of a routine physical?

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EAST COVENTRY — The 16-year-old Owen J. Roberts High School student who was seriously injured in a one-vehicle crash Wednesday night died early Friday morning, officials confirmed.

Kelsey Lynn Kramer, a junior at Owen J. Roberts High School, died at Reading Hospital and Medical Center, where she was transported Wednesday after the 8:37 p.m. crash in the 1100 block of Bethel Church Road.

Kramer was northbound on Bethel Church Road when she lost control of her 2004 Honda Civic, East Coventry Township police said. Kramer’s vehicle crossed over the southbound lane and struck a tree. Kramer was rescued from her vehicle by Ridge Fire Company and transported to the hospital by Phoenixville’s West End EMS.

Police said the crash remained under investigation Friday. Police said that Kramer was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash, however, other details were not immediately available.

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DAYTON — Two months before 9-year-old Unique Figgers collapsed at Westwood PreK-8 School and died Tuesday, Dayton Public Schools laid off 10 school nurses — one-third of its nursing staff.

Among them was the full-time nurse at Westwood, which now has one nurse splitting her days between the elementary school and Thurgood Marshall High School.  On Tuesday morning, when Unique collapsed after reportedly telling friends she felt dizzy, the school nurse was at Belmont High School as part of a team performing vision screenings.

Though the cause of death still has not been determined as investigators await test results following Wednesday’s autopsy, the girl’s sudden death has put a spotlight on the nursing staff reductions and sparked concern among some who wonder whether having a school nurse on duty that day might have changed the outcome.

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Santa Cruz City School’s Superintendent Gary Bloom said the sophomore was running laps when the student’s heart suddenly stopped beating and the student collapsed.  Physical education teacher Bassel Faltas immediately ran over to the student, gave CPR and likely saved the sophomore’s life, Bloom said.  The student was airlifted by a helicopter to Stanford University Medical Center, where he was listed in critical condition Wednesday. Officials did not release the student’s name, age or sex.

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#2 Latrell “Fred” Dunbar, football player at Gautier High School collapsed and died on football field.

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#3  Elena Natanzadeh, a graduated from Beverly Vista, collapsed and died on the stairs adjacent to the swim gym.

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#4 Jacob Moreno, a UTEP student, collapsed and died in English class.

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#5 Jack Hill, Jr., student at Slippery Rock University, and basketball player, dropped dead during tryouts.

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