Update:

As of 2 p.m. on Friday, Shell was still in ICU in critical condition.

The jogger was identified Friday morning as Spencer Shell, a junior in political science.  He is at Rex Hospital in ICU. His family has been contacted.

The Students Today, Alumni Tomorrow gathering in Harris Field Thursday evening experienced an unexpected interruption, when a runner collapsed, prompting Cary EMS, Wake County EMS and Campus Police to block Dan Allen Drive between Thurman Drive and Cates Avenue.

The man collapsed and rolled down a hill onto Harris Field at approximately 5:30 p.m., according to eyewitnesses.

Martin Moody, chief investigator with Campus Police, said the runner was alive as of 7:30 p.m. Thursday night.

“When I called, he was still hanging in there,” Moody said.

Jon Smetana, a junior in sports management and Campus Recreation employee, along with an unnamed runner, were the first on the scene and began CPR.

Kate Gilbertson, a sophomore in parks, recreation and tourism management, said the man was obviously working out.

“He was running down Dan Allen Drive, and he had headphones,” Gilbertson said.

Smetana was playing cornhole when he saw the runner out the corner of his eye.

“He was kneeling over. It looked like he was resting,” Smetana said. “It was like he couldn’t support himself.”

Gilbertson said the jogger faceplanted and rolled down the hill at Harris Field.

“It was literally seconds after he rolled down the hill when we reached him,” Smetana said. “His face was already purple.”

According to Gilbertson, Campus Recreation officials, along with the unnamed runner began CPR on the collapsed jogger.

“We looked for a foreign object in his airway,” Gilbertson said. “We couldn’t find anything, so we began CPR.”

While Smetana and the unnamed runner were performing CPR, someone called 911.

“Once someone called 911, we just kept doing CPR until the rescue squads got here,” Gilbertson said.

According to Thomas Stafford, vice-chancellor for student affairs, University officials do not know if the man is a student.

“One of the problems we face is making sure his emergency contacts are contacted and we can’t do that. We need to identify him,” Stafford said.

Jude Jackson, a freshman in psychology, did not see the runner collapse, but he said he heard about it from everyone else.

“I just hear what everyone is saying,” Jackson said. “I hope he’s alright.” 

Editor-in-Chief Amanda Wilkins contributed to this report.