CORRECTION: Due to an editing error, the time witnesses placed a 911 call to report Christian Federico’s collapse was wrongly reported.
Sophomore kinesiology major Christian Federico died late Friday afternoon after he collapsed while jogging on a path surrounding Lake Artemesia, emergency response officials said. He suffered a heart attack.
Prince George’s County Fire/EMS spokesman Mark Brady said witnesses, who attempted to revive Federico by administering CPR, called 911 at about 5:45 p.m. The witnesses reported that Federico, 20, had collapsed, wasn’t breathing and didn’t have a pulse.
Although Federico suffered cardiac arrest, Brady said an autopsy will be done sometime this week to determine the cause of death.
Federico’s mother, Luanne Federico, said her son had no existing illnesses or medical conditions.
“It’s totally [inexplicable],” she said. “He was a very athletic kid. In high school he played football, basketball and baseball. I’m sure [jogging] is what he did on a daily basis.”
Federico was a third baseman on the university’s B-level club baseball team, and his coach, Alex Reich, described him as more in-shape than other players on the team.
Reich, a junior finance major, said Federico was “probably in better shape than anyone else [on the team]. He was always at the head of the pack when the team went for three- or four-mile runs.”
He added Federico, who Reich described as a talented athlete, often trained on his own and was planning on trying out for the varsity football team.
“He was a great player that did anything you asked him to do,” Reich said. “One time, I asked him to play outfield for an inning, and he made a pair of diving catches.”
According to teammates, Federico, who transferred from Westchester Community College in New York last semester, quickly made friends on the team after arriving at the university.
Sophomore economics major Mark Brady Jr., an outfielder on the club team, said Federico quickly became a front-runner when the team came together for its spring season.
“At first, everyone was trying to get to know each other, but then we got some camaraderie going,” he said. “Everyone came to know him as a standout, carefree guy. It seemed like nothing in the world would bother him.”
The last time Brady saw Federico was at their game two weeks ago. Federico was a volunteer trainer for the Terrapin football team, and Brady said he was excited to be working a football game the next day.
Federico was admitted to this university his senior year of high school, but he attended the University of South Carolina for a year before transferring to Westchester.
His father, Lou Federico, said his son went to South Carolina out of high school because they offered him “a very nice academic scholarship,” but he wanted to be a Terp.
“When he came back for Christmas break his freshman year, he said he didn’t want to be there,” Lou Federico said. “This was always a place he wanted to go. When he finally got in, he was so excited to get down there.”
At press time, no funeral or memorial services had been announced.
botelho at umdbk dot com
