Jospin Milandu, a sophomore walk-on, collapsed and died following a tryout for the North Carolina A&T track team last week, the website DigTriad.com reported.
University officials said Milandu died of complications from an elevated heart rate.
Athletic Director Wheeler Brown said that Milandu was at a supervised open try-out. Brown said that Milandu was attended by emergency medical personnel and was transported to Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital.
Brown also acknowledged that no athletic trainer was present during the workout, a violation of university policy. He also said he did not know if Milandu had taken a required physical before the try-out and explained that university officials were looking to see if other policies were violated.
According to Bernard Flynt, another student-athlete trying out for the track team, Milandu pulled up a few feet short of the finish line on his fourth lap.
"He just said he was tired and he couldn't go no more," Flynt said. "We was trying to help him, but he wasn't trying to stand up. He was just trying to just sit there."
Flynt said that the weather was rainy and the workout conditions were not very strenous.
"He was talking, he was conscious," Flynt added.
Ten minutes later, however, everything changed. Milandu collapsed. Emergency responders put him on a stretcher and tried to revive him. He was transported to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Milandu's death comes only a two weeks after Grambling defensive player Christian Anthony suffered a heart attack after a team workout. Anthony was back on campus this week but has not been cleared to play football yet.
Comments