MACON, Ga. — A Mercer University student died after collapsing during an intramural soccer game on Monday night in Macon, according to a statement from University President Bill Underwood.
Mason Sells, a junior from Peachtree City, was taken to Atrium Health Navicent by ambulance, where he was later pronounced dead after he collapsed during a soccer game. He was an accounting major and an Alpha Tau Omega fraternity member.
"Our hearts go out to the Sells family on their tragic loss, and I ask the Mercer community to keep them in their thoughts and prayers. Mason was an outstanding student and a highly involved Mercerian," Underwood said in the statement. "Words cannot convey the extent of our sadness over his passing."
Jacob Woods is president of the Alpha Tau Omega. He said his friend Mason Sells was like a little brother to him.
“School just kind of came naturally to him,” Woods said. “I think that's what made him such a great brother as well because he didn't have to study as hard as the rest of us because he was just that smart. He had that time to pour into the people around him and focus on those relationships and he was such a selfless guy. He would always put other people above himself.”
Woods said he and all of Sells' friends will continue to think of him in everything they do at Mercer.
“He was always there if I needed someone to talk to about anything hard going on in my life because he was just that sort of person. He was reliable,” Woods said. “He wanted to be a backbone for the people around him and I'm going to miss him. We love him so much.”
Coroner Leon Jones says Sells died of cardiac arrest. Jones said Sells' father told him that Sells was hit in the chest with a soccer ball before he went into cardiac arrest
"It's been a terrible week for athletics," Jones said.
A Wesleyan cross country athlete collapsed and went into cardiac arrest during a meet Saturday morning at Middle Georgia State College. She was later pronounced dead at Atrium Health Navicent.
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