NY high school runner, 14, dies

A 14-year-old high school runner died Wednesday, five days after going into cardiac arrest that came from a fall on the course during a practice run for his state championship cross country meet.

Ronan Guyer, a freshman at Southold Junior-Senior High School on Long Island, had been in a medically induced coma at Women & Children's Hospital of Buffalo since the accident on Friday. The New York State Public High School Athletic Association cross country championships in Elma, N.Y., about 15 miles east of Buffalo, were scheduled for Saturday.

The school's athletic director confirmed the death in an email Thursday.

"This is such a painful time for the family and friends of Ronan and his family," school superintendent David Gamberg said in a statement. "The board of education, students and staff wish to express their deepest sympathies to all who have been close to Ronan and his family."

The teenager slipped in a patch of mud and took the brunt of the fall on his chest, his family told The News-Review in Riverhead, N.Y. They said he had no history of heart problems, and they believed the impact of the fall caused him to suffer cardiac arrest.