A group of men’s soccer players from North Iowa Area Community College is credited with saving a life Tuesday afternoon on the Mason City campus.
Head Coach Michael Donovan says he and several team members were in the locker room when someone ran in and said someone was drowning in the lake. Donovan says he dashed right out.
“I get there and Lolo and Lucas and Connor are all dragging him out of the water and they stopped him from drowning,” Donovan says. “I got there and 911 was called. They arrived and the guy was, from what I know, I mean I know he’s doing pretty well, but, they saved his life. It’s incredible, really. And then, 15 minutes later we’re on a bus on the way to Waldorf to play a scrimmage.”
Soccer player Layton Wheeler was one of the players who dove into action. “I was walking to the changing rooms and we saw an old man struggling in the pond. So we were looking and we were a bit curious to see what was happening and all of a sudden screaming for help,” Wheeler says. “So I got my bag off, took all my clothes off and I went straight in that pond and tried to get him out. Tried to get his head above the water. Then I got a couple of lads to come in and they helped me put him on the bay. Thankfully, he’s alive now.”
The man, whose name hasn’t been released, was taken to MercyOne-North Iowa. First responders say the man was not breathing when the call came in to dispatch but he was breathing on his own when he was transported to the hospital.
(By Jesse Stewart, KGLO, Mason City)