CHARLOTTE (WFMY) — A high school athlete died early Sunday after collapsing the previous day during a cross-country race in Charlotte, according to her high school band's Facebook page.
Union Pines High School senior Samantha Davis, one month shy of her 18th birthday, was racing Saturday morning in the annual Hare & Hounds Invitational at McAlpine Park when she collapsed, athletic blog and database site MileSplit reports. The two-time varsity runner had less than a mile to go.
Davis may have had a seizure followed by cardiac arrest, according to The Pilot. She was rushed to Novant Health Presbyterian Medical Center but died shortly after midnight.
In 2016, Davis' mother told The Pilot her daughter had suffered a softball-related injury earlier that year that resulted in seizures and a diagnosis of epilepsy. But since then, the teen had reportedly been seizure free.
Davis was in the school's marching band and also a member of Union Pine' indoor and outdoor track teams, according to MileSplit. Family and friends described Davis to The Pilot as "a kind and sweet girl with an infectious smile and enthusiastic spirit for everything she took."
A GoFundMe has been set up for anyone who wants to help, according to the school department's superintendent, all to be donated to Davis' parents to help with costs and expenses.
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