It’s stressful enough for coaches and athletes competing at a state tournament, but how about trying to save someone’s life just before you are supposed to compete?

It happened last week at the State Dance competition at the Target Center in Minneapolis when a 1-year-old boy stopped breathing.

The Fridley dance team considers themselves one big family. So just before they performed last Friday night, Coach Angela Burkhardt-Bixby put her 1-year-old son Colton in the hands of freshman dancer Lizzy Streitz so she could go to the bathroom.

“He’s one of those kids who falls asleep in whoever is holding him in their arms,” said Streitz.

This time Colton didn’t fall asleep. Instead, he stopped breathing and began turning blue. Not knowing what was wrong, Streitz began yelling for help.

“We heard screaming in the hallway- ‘He’s not breathing! He’s not breathing! Somebody please help,’” said Jen Stumm, coach of the Zumbrota-Mazeppa dance team. Stumm’s team was getting ready to go on the floor when she saw Streitz running towards her.

“Things are moving so fast at that point you don’t have the chance to stop and think about what’s really going on. You just do,” said Stumm.

The two teams started working together to save Colton’s life. Streitz called 911 and Jen, along with her assistant coaches, began using her CPR training.

After minutes of frantically giving Colton chest compressions, he began to breathe and then cry.

“That was the best sound we could have heard,” Stumm said.

He was rushed to Children’s Hospital, where doctors determined he had a febrile seizure due to a fever, but said he will be okay.

“I’m just happy he’s better and is his usual playful self,” said Streitz.

Colton’s mom said the Target Center staff also played a big role in helping their son, as they made sure they got to the ambulance okay.

Doctors said Colton won’t have any long-term health problems.

The Twin Cities Minneapolis-St. Paul are the healthiest, fittest cities in the USA, followed by Washington, D.C., and Boston, according to a new analysis of the 50 most populous metro areas.

“It takes a healthy community to produce a healthy population, and Minneapolis-St. Paul is a beautiful place to live if you’re interested in a physically active lifestyle,” says Barbara Ainsworth, president-elect of the sports medicine group and a professor in Arizona State University’s exercise and wellness program in Phoenix.

Source: American Fitness Index from the American College of Sports Medicine Among the reasons the Twin Cities ranked No. 1: a lower-than-average obesity rate, an above-average percentage of residents who exercise, a relatively low smoking rate and moderate-to-low rates of chronic health problems such as asthma, heart disease and diabetes. Plus the area has lots of parks and recreational facilities.

Minneapolis was one of the first cities to have organized bicycle trails and to prohibit smoking in public places, she says, and it has many parks and public golf courses.

Almost 16% of land in the city is park land vs. an average of 10% in other cities across the country, Ainsworth says. “The parks are filled with baseball diamonds, tennis courts, walking trails so there are many different ways to be active.”

Nice to see some good news for the Twin Cities right about now. You’ll also be happy to know that our “Top Ten List” archenemy Portland came in fourth place.

*clears throat*

Suck on that Portland.

(Source: USA Today)