Officials say an incoming high school freshman died after losing consciousness during a football workout in mid-Michigan.
Grand Ledge Public Schools Superintendent Brian Metcalf said in a statement that Everson Guild died Monday after losing consciousness in the Grand Ledge High School weight room. Coaches and school staff used an automatic external defibrillator in an attempt to save him.
Metcalf said the 14-year-old boy was participating in a "voluntary, routine football workout." The cause of death is under investigation.
Football coach Matt Bird says Everson had just finished a lift when fellow students noticed something was wrong.
"He was actually finishing a lift at that time and there was other boys around him spotting," Bird said. "We always make sure safety is our number one concern. They were around him and immediately alerted myself and the other staff member that are there that there was an issue that something wasn't right."
Counseling has been made available to students in Grand Ledge, near Lansing. Metcalf says: "Words cannot begin to express our sorrow over the loss of this young man."
A GoFundMe set up to help his family has raised more than $17,000 as of Wednesday. Everson's "love for life, his passion for people and his smile will forever be carried out within our lives," the page reads.
