Navy Swimmer Dies While Swimming Underwater

Aug. 14. A member of Navy's men's swimming team drowned in a Newport News, Va., pool after doing exercises designed to enable him to swim farther underwater, according to a story by Christian Swezey in today's Washington Post.

Kyle Hurdle, 21, died Friday night after blacking out while training without coaching supervision at the Warwick Yacht Club pool, his father, Bill Hurdle, said.

Hurdle had been hyperventilating in an attempt to increase the distance he could swim underwater. Bill Hurdle said his son was attempting to go 75 meters underwater when he passed out.

"We try to tell our kids that [coaches] have to be around when they swim underwater," Navy Coach Lee Lawrence said. "We have to be very close by watching."
He added that he limits the distance Navy swimmers are allowed to swim underwater to 25 meters.

According to a Newport News police report, Hurdle was doing "breath controlled laps at the pool when he went to the bottom." Lifeguards jumped in, pulled him out and performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation until a medic arrived. Hurdle was taken to Riverside Hospital and pronounced dead a short time later, the report stated.

Hurdle, who turned 21 on Aug. 3, was scheduled to return to the academy on Wednesday. He grew up swimming at the Warwick Yacht Club and held many of
the pool records. At navy, Hurdle specialized in the backstroke. At Warwick High, he was a member of the
soccer and swimming teams and the National Honor Society.

"He was a great young man with high integrity and he worked 100 percent hard all of the time," Lawrence said. "I would like to have 100 just like him."

Hurdle's funeral is today at Peninsula Funeral Home in Newport News. He will be buried with full Navy honors on Friday in Annapolis.

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