Spring Break Tragedy!.
Merritt, who would have turned 21 on April 14, fell from a fifth-floor balcony at the Comfort Inn & Suites. Beaufort County sheriff’s Captain Bob Bromage told Associated Press Merritt was attempting to climb from the balcony of one room to another when she fell approximately 60 feet.
An autopsy was scheduled for tomorrow in Charleston, AP reported.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the Merritt family,” Ohio director of athetics Kirby Hocutt said in a prepared statement. “The entire Ohio Athletics and Ohio University family is saddened by this sudden and tragic loss. We will make sure everything possible is done to help our student-athletes, particularly Sarah’s teammates, coaches and staff during this difficult time.”
Merritt played in all 19 matches for the 9-9-1 Bobcats last fall, starting two and recording no goals and two assists. As a sophomore in 2005. Merritt had two goals and three assists, starting four of the 16 matches she played for OU, which went 3-14.
As a freshman, Merritt played in 14 games when the Bobcats went 9-7-3 and tied for first in the Mid-American Conference regular season at 7-2-3.
Merritt scored 28 goals in each her junior and senior seasons and was named a high school All-American during her final year at Tippecanoe High School. She totaled 88 goals and 34 assists over four years for the Red Devils.
The daughter of Tom and Tammy Merritt, she was the president of her high school senior class and the senior homecoming queen, as well as a member of the choir, and track and basketball teams.