A high school swimmer is being credited with helping to save a rival competitor who nearly drowned at a Michigan swim meet Thursday.
Corunna High School swimmer Xavier Staubs had just finished a medley relay Thursday and was getting out of the pool in Corunna when spectators yelled that a boy was drowning at the bottom of the pool.
Apparently the boy at the bottom of the pool was ‘completely limp.’ Staubs said ‘I look over in the stands and my best friend’s dads were pointing down and screaming at me to look down, and I looked down and I see this kid just completely limp,’ according to ABC 12.
Corunna High School swimmer Xavier Staubs (pictured here) saved a rival competitor at a Michigan swim meet last Thursday after he almost drowned
Staubs jumped into the pool and pulled Owosso High School swimmer Kamrin Samson, who was unconscious from the bottom as another swimmer, who is a certified lifeguard, assisted him.
Owosso High School swimmer Kamrin Samson went ‘completely limp’ and sunk to the bottom of the pool before being saved by Staubs and others
‘My eyes were burning as I was doing this. I clawed to the bottom of the pool, lifted him up with one arm, pushed him to the surface and raised him to the surface with one arm,’ Staubs said.
Apparently there were a bevvy of professionals on hand to help Samson.
‘Kamrin had the right people there at the time to take care of him. I’m a retired police officer, firefighter. The gentleman that helped me is a retired firefighter and EMT,’ Samson’s coach Mike Gute said.
‘My wife was in the stands. She’s a pediatric intensive care nurse. There was also another nurse on scene,’ he added.
Cory Samson says she’s grateful to everyone who helped save her son, who apparently had a breathing problem during his first meet with the team.
‘Mostly, just grateful. It was a scary situation. My husband and I were up in the stands, but we didn’t have a full visual on him because we were further down in the stands and not right in front of him,’ she said.
‘I mean, they were quick on their response, quick getting him out.’ He was treated at a hospital and is currently recovering, however he does plan to swim again.
Kamrin Samson’s (pictured) mother, Cory, said she’s grateful to everyone who helped save her son, who apparently had a breathing problem during his first meet with the team
‘I didn’t care if it was a rivalry or anything. I just saw someone needed help and I instantly thought I got to save this guy,’ Staubs recalled.
‘There’s always this competition, no matter what sport it is. But really, our communities are three to four miles apart and even though there’s that rivalry, there’s a friendship.’
‘And even though — you know — no matter what the outcome was of any event that we have, when people need help, good people step forward and that’s what life is all about,’ Gute said.