Preps: Basketball player death is North Carolina's fifth during school year
Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C. — A freshman basketball player who died during practice at a North Carolina school has become the state's fifth high school athlete to die in the academic year, an official who tracks such information said.
Anthony Dontra Eatmon, 14, collapsed and died Monday after a break during practice at Hunt High School in Wilson, authorities said. No cause of death has been immediately determined for the 6-foot-2, 300-pound player.
Statistics at the National Center for Catastrophic Injury in Chapel Hill show Eatmon was the fifth high school athlete to die in North Carolina's 2008-09 school year, according to director Frederick Mueller.
Mueller said he doesn't recall a year with that many deaths. He said there have been three deaths of football players and one other in basketball.
He said deaths that occur in basketball usually are heart-related.
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On the Net:
Center for Catastrophic Injury: http://www.unc.edu/depts/nccsi/
