Shawnee Mission Northwest sophomore dies after medical emergency during football training
A football player from Shawnee Mission Northwest High School has died, days after suffering a medical emergency during football conditioning last week.
District spokesman David Smith confirmed on Friday that sophomore Ovet Gomez Regalado was participating in off-season training Wednesday when he had a medical emergency. Emergency responders were called to the school, at 12701 W. 67th St. in Shawnee, and transported the student to the hospital.
Smith said district officials learned Friday morning that the student had died.
Additional details were not immediately available. Shawnee Mission Northwest football coach Bo Black and athletic director Angelo Giacalone were unavailable for comment Friday.
Shawnee Mission families on Friday took to social media, sending prayers to the family and sharing that Gomez Regalado was a kind friend and student.
“Ovet was such a warm and wonderful student that touched the hearts of so many in our community,” Shawnee Mission Northwest principal Lisa Gruman wrote in a letter to staff and families Friday.
In the letter, Gruman encouraged Shawnee Mission Northwest families to talk to their children, who she said may be struggling to process Gomez Regalado’s death. School and district counseling staff will be available to meet with students in the coming weeks, Gruman wrote.
Gruman also discouraged parents and students from spreading unverified information about Gomez Regalado, whose cause of death is still not publicly known.
“Your child will hear many different things, but please encourage them not to make guesses and spread rumors,” Gruman wrote. “The family will need privacy as they struggle to handle their grief, and the administration is asking everyone to respect that privacy.”
Gomez Regalado joined the Shawnee Mission Northwest football team as a freshman, according to athletic stats posted online. He played both offensive and defensive roles, playing as a nose guard, defensive tackle, center and guard at different times.
As Gomez Regalado’s family and the Shawnee Mission Northwest community continue to grieve, community sports practices on the high school’s athletic fields have not paused.
Thomas Mann, who attended his grandson’s youth flag football group practice on the school’s field Friday evening, remembered watching from afar as emergency medical technicians responded to Gomez Regalado’s collapse.
“We saw the fire department come in,” Mann said. “We saw the ambulance come in. We didn’t know anything that had happened until this morning, when we read about it.”
Though he didn’t know Gomez Regalado personally, the young athlete’s death made Mann reflect on the potential dangers of youth sports.
“I’m sure everybody’s struggling to understand,” Mann said. “We don’t know everyone’s health issues. When [high school athletes] go get a physical, the kids don’t talk to the doctors. …You just say, ‘Oh, I’m good, I’m good,’ because you want to go out and play sports.”
This story was originally published August 16, 2024 at 5:00 PM.
