Funeral will be Saturday for Raymore-Peculiar track athlete Ja’Leel Freeman

The funeral service for Ja’Leel Freeman, the 17-year-old Raymore-Peculiar High School athlete who collapsed and died last week after track practice, will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at the United Believers Community Church 5600 E. 112th Terrace in Kansas City.

On the same day, the high school will host a "Mile for Ja’Leel" in conjuction with its regularly scheduled 5-kilometer and half-marathon races. That ceremony will start at 8:30 a.m.

Freeman, a four-year distance runner on the track team, collapsed in the school’s locker room Wednesday after running during practice. Emergency crews responded and found Freeman in cardiac arrest. Staff performed CPR until paramedics arrived and took Freeman to Belton Regional Medical Center, where he died.

Raymore-Peculiar’s coaching staff was aware Freeman had seen a doctor earlier in the week about a potential medical condition, a district official said.

The coaches were communicating with Freeman’s family, and they followed guidelines to monitor him during practice, said Michele Stidham, the school district’s director of communications.

"They were aware of (the doctor’s appointment), and they were working within certain parameters, as relayed to them by the family," Stidham said.

The cause of Freeman’s cardiac arrest has not been released.

Freeman had completed a physical, as required by Missouri’s governing body for athletics, before joining the team for practice last week, Stidham said.

This story was originally published March 9, 2015 at 7:25 PM with the headline "Funeral will be Saturday for Raymore-Peculiar track athlete Ja’Leel Freeman."