College gymnast dies after suffering injury in training accident
A college gymnast from Connecticut has died following a training accident.
Officials at Southern Connecticut State University say 20-year-old Melanie Coleman died at Yale New Haven Hospital on Sunday two days after suffering a spinal cord injury during practice.
University President Joe Bertolino in a statement Sunday said, “Our deepest sympathies are extended to her family and friends on this tragic loss.”
She was a junior nursing student at the New Haven school.
Coleman was a former All State gymnast at Jonathan Law High School in Milford.
Her former club coach, Tom Alberti, said she attained the highest level in the USA Junior Olympics Program.
Coleman was also captain of the Jonathan Law gymnastics team and was named as a Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Assn. Scholastic All-American earlier this year.
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