Teen Pulled From School Pool Dies

An 18-year-old student died Wednesday after being pulled from Trabuco Hills High School’s pool during varsity swim team practice, officials said.

Brian Graper of Trabuco Canyon was swimming with his teammates shortly after 3 p.m., said Lt. Rich Paddock of the Orange County Sheriff’s Dept.

“Apparently, the coach had summoned the team out of the pool, and after a few minutes one of the students . . . noticed there was a dark mass in the water,” Paddock said. “Other students jumped in and pulled Brian out of the pool and started CPR.”

It was not clear how long the teen had been submerged, Paddock said.

Graper was taken by ambulance to Saddleback Memorial Medical Center in Laguna Hills, where he died.

“Paramedics were doing CPR on the way to the hospital trying to resuscitate him,” hospital spokeswoman Jill Kennedy said. “He was alive but unconscious when they brought him in.”

An autopsy is set for today, officials said.

“Whether it was a drowning, I don’t know,” said Peter Hartman, superintendent of Saddleback Valley Unified School District. “The coroner will have to tell us that.”

Hartman said he spoke with Graper’s family Wednesday. “As you can imagine, the parents are in a lot of grief right now,” he said.

Graper’s death was the third in recent years among Orange County high school athletes in water sports. Gray Lunde, a 14-year-old water polo player, collapsed and died during practice at Newport Harbor High School in the summer of 1995. And Jaffet “Jeff” Campos, 17, died in September 1996 after collapsing on the pool deck during water polo practice at Saddleback High School.

The odds of a high school athlete dying suddenly during practice or competition are about 1 in 200,000, according to a report by the American Heart Assn. The overwhelming cause of such deaths is congenital heart defects, which are difficult to detect, the association stated.

Times correspondent Mark Spinn contributed to this report.