Cheerleader hurt in contest dies

Her lungs collapsed, officials say

Photographs of Lauren Chang were featured on the Energized Athletics website as a tribute to the late cheerleader. (www.energizedathletics.com)

A 20-year-old Newton North High School graduate died after collapsing during a daylong cheerleading competition in Worcester over the weekend.

Lauren Chang, part of a highly skilled cheerleading squad called Energy Cheer, died Monday after something went wrong at the Minuteman Cheerleading Championships. She suffered collapsed lungs after apparently being kicked in the chest, authorities said yesterday.

Kim England, the owner of Energized Athletics in Watertown, the gym where Chang trained, said the first she knew of a problem was when Chang ran across the back of the floor where her team was performing, and collapsed.

"We don't have any indication of what could have possibly happened," she said after repeatedly viewing a video of the performance.

The accident was one of several that witnesses say occurred at the meet, which featured 63 teams performing at the DCU Center. Several cheerleaders were injured over the course of the day, stunning parents and friends who gathered to watch the competition.

As word of her death circulated among area cheerleaders, Chang's peers honored her by posting memorials on the website of Energized Athletics, the Watertown gym where she trained, as well as on the team's MySpace.com page. Photos show a fresh-faced, smiling brunette posing with friends at a party and grinning with another girl while sporting silver and red glitter on her eyelids to match her cheerleading uniform.

Chang's co-ed team had been scheduled to take the mat at 7:10 p.m. The accident occurred about 10 minutes later, near the end of their routine.

"She went down . . . then people gathered around her, and they announced over the intercom that they were looking for an EpiPen because they thought she was having an allergic reaction," said Irene Horgan, a parent of a cheerleader at the meet. "We've been to a thousand competitions and I've never seen anything like this day. And I can't point to anything and say this was unsafe or that was unsafe. It was just a crazy day."

Horgan described the chaos that erupted as coaches and parents tried to help Chang.

A spokesman with American Medical Response said an advanced-life support ambulance team responded to the accident.

"We had a five-minute response time," said Doug Moore, a spokesman for the private ambulance service. He could provide no other details, and it was unclear whether the medics were stationed at the event or were called there. Moore also was unable to provide information on other injuries at the event.

Keith Simmons of Franklin said he saw at least three cheerleaders transported by ambulance from the competition - which he attended to see his 7-year-old daughter perform. Simmons, a paramedic, left before Chang's accident but said he was aware of at least one fall and an asthma attack at the competition.

He and other parents were calling the competition "cursed" and noted a series of "freak accidents."

"I've never seen it like this before," he said of all the injuries. "These girls go through a lot of training and practice . . . but of course with any competitive sport you've got to do something that's going to impress everybody - kind of push the limit."

An autopsy Wednesday ruled Chang's death an accident, according to Terrel Harris, a spokesman for the state Executive Office of Public Safety. He said Chang died of "complications" after her lungs collapsed.

Worcester police were still investigating yesterday.

"Apparently, she was accidentally kicked in the chest by a tumbler . . . during this cheerleading event," said Sergeant Kerry Hazelhurst, spokesman. A report on her death, he said, states that Chang was taken to Saint Vincent Hospital and transferred to UMass Memorial Medical Center. Hazelhurst said she was pronounced dead at UMass Memorial at 1:05 p.m. Monday.

Spirit Cheer, a Florida-based company, organized the event. "I think we're really in shock and just sad about the whole incident," Mike Pare, company president, said when contacted by phone Wednesday, that an accident like Chang's had never happened at one of his events.

Statistics, however, paint a grim picture of cheerleading and the often dangerous gymnastic tricks common in the sport.

From 1982 to 2006, 10 female athletes have died from injuries sustained - directly or indirectly - during cheerleading stunts performed at the high school and college level, according to the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research, which is based at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

During the 2005-2006 school year, there were seven catastrophic cheerleading injuries reported at the high school level, including two deaths. One of those was a 14-year-old Medford girl who died in 2005.

Les Stella, the vice president of programs for the US All Star Federation for Cheer & Dance Teams, said his organization helps certify cheer coaches using a three-phase process, and provides rules and regulations to ensure safety.

"Picking up anyone above the ground and lifting them above your head and tossing them creates an inherent risk," he said," but what we do is create the safety environment that makes athletes safe."

A biography posted on the website for Energized Athletics lists Chang as a birthday party coordinator for the company. It states that she started cheering as a high school junior and volunteered as an instructor for Garden City Sports cheerleading camp in Newton. Chang joined the Energy Cheer team after graduation and was in her third year with a team that won a national championship title last year in Boston. A Suffolk University spokeswoman said she attended the college, but was not enrolled.

Chang's team was listed on the Minuteman event roster as a Level 6, which Stella said is considered "your highest, elite level." The federation looked into Chang's accident this week after hearing that a competitor had collapsed and slipped into a coma at a cheer event. He said Spirit Cheer is affiliated with the federation, but it was unclear yesterday whether the event had been sanctioned by the organization.

Chang's family refused to talk to the Globe about her death. "This girl was the most amazing person. . . . She was a mentor, a friend, a big sister," England said, recalling how Chang was never without a smile and often the one who volunteered to go on doughnut runs for friends at the gym.

England said Chang, just prior to the competition, had worked a children's birthday party at the gym, and her teammates said one of their last memories will be of her playing with children.

"Lauren was more than just a cheerleader at Full Out and Energy Cheer . . . She helped make the gym work," Joe Vogel, an open team coach, wrote in a MySpace.com posting. "She was there from the beginning, omnipresent with her smile, her unwavering commitment to getting her tumbling, and willingness to lend a hand no matter what. Lauren truly represented what it meant to be part of our cheer family, and we will miss her more than words can tell."

Erin Ailworth can be reached at eailworth@globe.com.