East High cheerleader collapses at practice, dies

The girl passed out just after saying she felt sick.

STAFF REPORT

YOUNGSTOWN — A cheerleader at East High School collapsed during an after-school practice Wednesday and later died at St. Elizabeth Health Center.

School officials said the 16-year-old junior was just in the warm-up stages of practice when she passed out.

Her name wasn’t immediately available.

Superintendent Wendy Webb said there was no indication the girl was ill before the practice session. Those who were with her said she appeared to be fine, but complained about not feeling well shortly before she collapsed, Webb said.

Despite saying she felt ill, she insisted that practice continue, but passed out about a minute later, Webb said.

She said the girl had a history of asthma but Webb didn’t know if that was a contributing factor to the collapse.

“It’s very sad,” Webb said. “She was a very good student, a very nice young lady.”

The members of her cheerleading squad all rushed to the hospital to check on her and were broken-hearted by the news of her death, Webb said. Webb and other school officials also went to the hospital to meet with the girl’s family.

“It’s just a hard thing to deal with,” she said, noting that the district’s emergency response team has been activated and will be at East High School today to deal with student concerns.

It will be up to parents to determine if their children should stay home from school, she said.

The Mahoning County coroner’s office is investigating.

School officials called Youngstown police about the death. Because the coroner’s office was investigating, police weren’t asked to come to the school, a police dispatcher said.