ZenVlog

• A 16-year-old collapsed during a cross-country race in Texas.
• Angel Hernandez was pronounced dead on October 13.
• Hernandez showed no signs of illness before the race, coaches said.

A 16-year-old high school student in Texas is dead after he collapsed during a cross-country meet. He is another in a string of otherwise healthy high school athletes who have suddenly died during competition.

Angel Hernandez died on October 13 after finishing in first place in a three-mile race, according to The Cinco Peso Press, the school newspaper at Chisholm Trail High School in Fort Worth. Teachers at the school read a statement to students in class informing them of Hernandez's death at a hospital after the race, the paper reported.

Hernandez was an accomplished athlete who also played football and participated in karate. His running coach, Randall Durant, told the Press that Hernandez had become "one of the best" on the cross-country team.

Hernandez's cause of death has not been publicly released. The Tarrant County Medical Examiner and Eagle Mountain-Saginaw school district did not immediately return a request for comment from Insider.

Hernandez collapsed twice while friends helped carry him to a water station, according to KENS, a local CBS affiliate in San Antonio. Hernandez's karate coach, Ashley Wood, told the outlet that he showed no signs of illness before the race.

Chisolm Trails posthumously named Hernandez the school's "athlete of the week."

"Thank you, Angel, for all your hard work and determination," cross country coach Joseph Gifford wrote in the announcement. "You will be extremely missed."

Young athletes are at greater risk of cardiac arrest

While Hernandez's death is not yet known, athletes under 30 can be at risk of cardiac arrest during intense competition. Sudden cardiac arrest is the leading cause of sport-related death in competitive athletes, according to a 2020 study published by the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

In August, a top high school basketball player died in Pinson, Alabama, after going into cardiac arrest during a school workout. A high school football player in Scottsdale, Arizona, was sidelined this summer after going into cardiac arrest during a workout.

LeBron James's son, Bronny James, 19, was also rushed to the ICU last month after going into cardiac arrest during a practice at the University of Southern California, where he was expected to play this year. Another USC player, Vince Iwuchukwu, went into sudden cardiac arrest during a practice in July 2022, according to CNN.

The British Journal of Sports Medicine study also found that Black NCAA Men's Division I basketball players had the highest incidence rate of sudden cardiac arrest and death among athletes 11 to 29 years old.

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Keyontae Johnson collapsed on the court during a game in 2020, when he was 20 years old, while he was playing for the University of Florida.

Johnson later declined a $5 million insurance payout from the NCAA that would have required him to quit playing college basketball after the incident, according to USA Today. Johnson only saw time in five games at Florida the following two years before transferring to Kansas State, where he became a third-team All-American.

Watch: What happens to your body during an ultramarathon

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7o8HSoqWeq6Oeu7S1w56pZ5ufony1sdeaqmagmZy1br%2FCoaaopF2owbawxKerZpyZmsBurcWtnKtlp567r7XNoGScqp%2BowG6vzq6lraqpYr%2Bir8RmaWlqY2J%2BcQ%3D%3D