It was the end of East Hampton varsity boys swim practice on Feb. 1 at the Y.M.C.A. East Hampton RECenter and Craig Brierley, the head coach, was waiting for two boys to finish swimming a time trial. One of the boys was 16-year-old Alonzo Moseley.
Otherwise, the pool was empty. Some of the swim team was standing around talking, others were watching the time trial. The air was heavy with humidity and smelled strongly of chlorine. Echoes filled the room.
“They swim two lengths of the pool, a 50-yard swim, and try to get their best time,” Mr. Brierley said in a phone call last month. “Alonzo had a teammate in the next lane swimming at a comparable speed, so they were pushing each other. From what the people at the Y told me, who watched the video, they didn’t think Alonzo ever came up for a breath.”
Experienced swimmers try to limit the number of times they come to the surface, knowing it slows them down, Mr. Brierley said.
Alonzo “finished the swim, came to the wall, and Brian was right there,” said Mr. Brierley, referring to Brian Cunningham, his assistant coach. “He never lifted his head out of the water.”
Alonzo had gone to the bottom of the pool.
Mr. Cunningham noticed immediately, according to Mr. Brierley and Jason Brunner, the RECenter lifeguard on duty that evening, and didn’t take his eyes from Alonzo.
“I saw him,” said Mr. Brunner, “and started walking over there. In my mind I thought one of the kids asked a coach if he could go down and hold his breath. Then I heard one of the teammates say, ‘Hey, you want me to tell him to come up?’ And the coach said, ‘Yes,’ “ recalled Mr. Brunner.
“Kids are told not to go to the bottom,” said Jon Tarbet, whose son, Luke, was at practice that day and was sent to the RECenter’s office to call 911.
“It’s a rule that never comes into play, no one would expect there’s really an issue there,” Mr. Tarbet said.
Alonzo’s teammate, Rock Hamada, who completed the town’s jun It was the end of East Hampton varsity boys swim practice on Feb. 1 at the Y.M.C.A. East Hampton RECenter and Craig Brierley, the head coach, was waiting for two boys to finish swimming a time trial. One of the boys was 16-year-old Alonzo Moseley.
Otherwise, the pool was empty. Some of the swim team was standing around talking, others were watching the time trial. The air was heavy with humidity and smelled strongly of chlorine. Echoes filled the room.
“They swim two lengths of the pool, a 50-yard swim, and try to get their best time,” Mr. Brierley said in a phone call last month. “Alonzo had a teammate in the next lane swimming at a comparable speed, so they were pushing each other. From what the people at the Y told me, who watched the video, they didn’t think Alonzo ever came up for a breath.”
Experienced swimmers try to limit the number of times they come to the surface, knowing it slows them down, Mr. Brierley said.
Alonzo “finished the swim, came to the wall, and Brian was right there,” said Mr. Brierley, referring to Brian Cunningham, his assistant coach. “He never lifted his head out of the water.”
Alonzo had gone to the bottom of the pool.
Mr. Cunningham noticed immediately, according to Mr. Brierley and Jason Brunner, the RECenter lifeguard on duty that evening, and didn’t take his eyes from Alonzo.
“I saw him,” said Mr. Brunner, “and started walking over there. In my mind I thought one of the kids asked a coach if he could go down and hold his breath. Then I heard one of the teammates say, ‘Hey, you want me to tell him to come up?’ And the coach said, ‘Yes,’ “ recalled Mr. Brunner.
“Kids are told not to go to the bottom,” said Jon Tarbet, whose son, Luke, was at practice that day and was sent to the RECenter’s office to call 911.
“It’s a rule that never comes into play, no one would expect there’s really an issue there,” Mr. Tarbet said.
Alonzo’s teammate, Rock Hamada, who completed the town’s junior lifeguarding program, and competed in the United States Lifesaving Association’s National Lifeguard Championships last summer, jumped into the water after him.
“The coaches and I grabbed him and pulled him out of the pool,” said Mr. Brunner. “I sent the coaches to get oxygen. He was breathing right away, but it was shallow. I could feel it because I was rubbing his back. He coughed, his eyes opened, and a lot of water came out his nose. I asked him if he knew where he was and he told me he thought he had been dreaming, but he knew his name.”
“It was an emergency and we all responded well and worked as a team. It was a good ending,” said Mr. Brierley.
Mr. Brunner was recognized with a proclamation at an East Hampton Village Board meeting on Feb. 17 for his role in helping to save the boy.
“It’s great to be recognized, but if the coach hadn’t been staring into the pool, noticing that something was off, I wouldn’t have started walking over there. The kid who went down and pushed him up is the hero to me,” said Mr. Brunner.
“Jason’s got 23 years of lifeguarding experience,” said Drew Smith, the head lifeguard for East Hampton Village. “He’s a true waterman. He’s an absolute asset to us on the beach and I’m happy he was working for the Y.M.C.A. on this day. He changed somebody’s life.”
“The Y had a lifeguard shortage coming out of Covid,” Mr. Tarbet said. “Lots of guys volunteer to keep it going, but Jay was putting in 40 hours a week. He takes lifeguarding really seriously.”
“I remember when Jay passed his lifeguard test down at Sagg Main. I was in middle school,” Chris Minardi, the deputy mayor, said at the village board meeting on Feb. 17. “It’s a pleasure to give this award. It’s well deserved. Jason’s probably made hundreds of saves and there’s no proclamation for any of those.”
Alonzo was transported to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, where Mr. Brierley and Kathy Masterson, the East Hampton School District athletic director, stayed with him until Alonzo’s father, Villan Moseley, arrived. Later that evening Alonzo was transported to Stony Brook University Hospital, where he spent a few days.
“They gave him a heart test and a brain scan to see if it was a seizure, which it wasn’t,” said Mr. Moseley. “
“I’m grateful that Rock was there, but I would expect the lifeguard on duty to jump in, not another student,” Mr. Moseley said. He wondered if safety protocols had been followed. “To hear a friend had to ask to jump in, as a parent, you just wonder.”
Mr. Moseley said he had not yet been able to watch the video of the incident but was eager to do so.
“The Y.M.C.A.’s top priority is the safety and well-being of all our members,” Molly Tuzil, the executive director of the East Hampton Y.M.C.A., said in a statement. “A swimmer at our Y.M.C.A. East Hampton RECenter experienced a medical emergency while in the pool. All Y.M.C.A. staff are trained in CPR and our staff reacted instantly and activated our emergency action plan. Emergency medical services arrived quickly and transported the individual to the hospital. We are grateful that he is expected to make a full recovery.”
“My main concern is if he’s going to have a respiratory situation in the future,” his father said. “His breathing sounds normal, but I’m still watching him.”
