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BY BOB HOLT
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
A gloomy mood weatherwise grew even darker Tuesday morning in Jersey City, as students and faculty packed into the gymnasium at St. Peter's Prep for church services dedicated to senior B.J. Giannone, who collapsed and died Monday night after competing in a swim meet.
Giannone, from Mountainside, finished a 200-yard freestyle relay at Saint Peter's College before collapsing on the pool deck, said Ryan Heffernan, the team's coach.
As he lifted himself out of the pool and started to walk toward his teammates, he either suffered chest pain or felt dizzy, then fell face down, where he hit his head on the floor, according to witnesses.
A defibrillator was administered on site, but he did not have a pulse by the time emergency personnel arrived on the scene.
The St. Peter's College trainer was called to the scene and performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, the Jersey Journal reported.
Giannone was taken to Jersey City Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
The cause of Giannone's death was not immediately known. The student, who joined the swim team this season, said he felt light-headed before he collapsed, Heffernan said. He did not complain of any illness during the meet at Saint Peter's College.
NJ.com reports Giannone competed in two races and was scheduled to appear in a 400-yard relay race, Heffernan said. The meet was against Ferris High School in Jersey City and Marist High School in Bayonne.
The mass began at 9:50 a.m. and the 90-minute service was held in the gym, where normally spirits are brighter.
According to NJ.com, friends said Giannone also founded the Society of Comedic Appreciation because he loved to quote Will Ferrell movies. The club was basically a group of kids who liked to get together after school and joke around.
Berkeley Heights Patch reported he regularly swam in the 200-meter freestyle and 200 meter medley events for St. Peter's.
According to his Facebook page, Giannone was planning on attending Virginia Tech University in the fall and was a member of the yearbook committee at St. Peter's Prep.
Giannone, who was an only child, also played junior varsity baseball last year and was looking forward to making the varsity this year, friends say.
