Our thoughts and prayers are with those affected by the terrible situation at Virginia Tech. Having been nearly 8 years since the last major school tragedy this brings up a lot of tough feelings. But when it happens to a place so close to home and you have friends there it hits in a whole new way. VT, you’ve got the support of the entire nation.

Update: I spoke with family and friends from home today to learn that one of the young swimmers I had coached back home, Fred, was one of the students who escaped from one of the 2nd story classrooms in Norris. Here is part of his story from the local papers:

Fred is an engineering student, like so many students there from King George. He was in one of the four classrooms on the second floor of Norris Hall which became crime scenes. He and his classmates in the Solid Mechanics class heard the loud bangs from the classroom next door.

He said for tense moments there was confusion as to what the noises were, but when they heard screams, they knew they were gunshots.

It was chaotic. Students took cover under desks. Some near the windows tore out the screens and urged escape. Most of the class jumped from the second story windows. Some landed in shrubbery, which helped break their fall. A couple broke bones.

Fred got out in time. The students who did not make it out were shot. His professor, Dr. Liviu Librescu, was killed.

Fred helped another classmate on the ground to run to safety in nearby Patton Hall. There, about 50 students and faculty holed up for more than two hours, sitting on the floor and staying relatively quiet, until released by university officials.

The rest of the article can be read here at JournalPress.com.

My thanks goes to his professor, Dr. Liviu Librescu, who sacrificed his life to protect his students, and to the other students who were fast in their thinking to open an escape through the windows.