Lucas Stone, a senior in engineering management from Columbia, Missouri, and Lance Ringhausen, associate director of sports medicine and head athletic trainer, were recognized yesterday for administering lifesaving CPR to a Missouri S&T student who collapsed the evening of Jan. 16 at the Gale Bullman Building.

“Lance Ringhausen and Lucas Stone are presented these awards for their outstanding performance and demonstration of extraordinary skill in the preservation of a human life,” says Doug Roberts, chief of University Police, who presented the awards during the meeting of the University of Missouri Board of Curators on the S&T campus yesterday (Thursday, April 11). “They are heroes to us all, and I am proud to honor them.”

The emergency occurred during a training for student supervisors learning to officiate basketball games. The student who experienced cardiac arrest collapsed on the court after demonstrating scrimmage movements intended to give student supervisors an opportunity to practice making live calls.

Stone, a student supervisor participating in the training, ran to the student and immediately began CPR. Stone is one of the hundreds of students, faculty and staff S&T trains each year, free of charge, on CPR and AED.

At the same time, Ringhausen, athletic trainer for the men’s varsity basketball team, who was watching the team practice on the second floor, spotted a student retrieving the automated external defibrillator (AED) that was stored in an office near the court. Ringhausen followed the student to the court and began administering shocks between Stone’s chest compressions.

An ambulance from Phelps Health arrived less than five minutes after being called. Paramedics took over compressions and used a more powerful AED to administer shocks. After the fourth shock, the student began breathing and shortly thereafter was transported to Phelps Health Hospital in Rolla. Within 24 hours, he was transferred to St. Luke’s Hospital in Chesterfield, Missouri. He has made a full recovery.

“It cannot be overstated that Lucas Stone saved another student’s life through his immediate action,” says Ethan Stencil, student recreation manager.

About Missouri University of Science and Technology

Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) is a STEM-focused research university of over 7,000 students located in Rolla, Missouri. Part of the four-campus University of Missouri System, Missouri S&T offers over 100 degrees in 40 areas of study and is among the nation’s top public universities for salary impact, according to the Wall Street Journal. For more information about Missouri S&T, visit www.mst.edu.