College student dies in pole vault fall
A collegiate pole vaulter from Rockville died Monday after injuries suffered in a fall during a track meet in Illinois last week, officials at his school, Grinnell College, said.
Officials at the Iowa campus said in a letter on the school's Web site that sophomore Robert Zhongjie (zhong-ZHEE') died Tuesday at an Illinois hospital. The school's president, Russell K. Osgood, and the vice president for student affairs, Houston Dougharty, said the college learned of the death from Zhongjie's family.
The college says Zhongjie fell during a vault Friday at the Midwest Conference Meet at Illinois College in Jacksonville, Ill. He had been at a Springfield, Ill., hospital since the fall.
-- Associated Press
By
Washington Post editors
| May 19, 2010; 12:46 PM ET
Save & Share:
Previous: Calvert Cliffs reactor back online
Next: Alexandria's annual festival canceled
Posted by: stonesis | May 19, 2010 2:39 PM | Report abuse
My sympathy and prayers to the family.
Posted by: candycane1 | May 19, 2010 5:46 PM | Report abuse
"the higher they go, the harder they fall."
-Edward Newton
Posted by: dubya1938 | May 19, 2010 7:05 PM | Report abuse
These young athletes are trusting and very eager but why don't schools provide helmets for them? He is not the first vaulter to die. He was an obviously loved and talented person who had so much to give to the world.
http://www.npr.org/programs/atc/features/2002/apr/polevault/
Posted by: joetarcy | May 19, 2010 9:54 PM | Report abuse
http://www.npr.org/programs/atc/features/2002/apr/polevault/
These trusting young people should be given helmets by their schools. I feel so sad for his family and to be at such a fine school, he must have been very talented.
Posted by: joetarcy | May 19, 2010 9:56 PM | Report abuse
The comments to this entry are closed.
This story is incorrect. Zhongjie is Robert's middle name. His last name is Yin.