The Edwardsville Breakers family of swimmers is feeling a great loss today after the sudden death of former teammate Austin A. Witmer, 20.
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Witmer died at 12:08 p.m. on Thursday, April 28. The cause of death was not immediately known.
He was enrolled for summer and fall semesters at SIUE. He was the son of Warren and Linda Witmer. He has a surviving brother, Dustin Witmer and his wife Courtney, of Leesburg, Va.
Edwardsville Breakers coach Bob Rettle said Austin was “a good kid.”
“He was one of my favorite people,” Rettle said. “We stayed in touch after his swimming career ended in 2014. We are now talking about life challenges with the Breakers and how to face them. The YMCA Breakers family is very sad about this. We have his family in our prayers, especially his parents, Linda and Warren.”
Austin swam 356 races for the Breakers from the time he was eight years old until his career ended in January 2014 at the Edwardsville Sprint Spectacular. He earned three first place awards and scored 829 points for the team.
Visitation will be from 3 to 7 tonight at Weber & Rodney Funeral Home in Edwardsville. Funeral services are at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday at Eden United Church of Christ in Edwardsville with Rev. John Roberts officiating.
Danette Brady, a parent of three Breaker swimmers over the years, said she was very close to Austin and his mom and dad over the years at swim meets, spending a lot of time together. She said she was “extremely sad” for Linda and Warren losing their young son.
“Austin was a very bright kid,” she said. “He was an excellent student. He studied at the University of Rolla and had come back home and was planning to go back to school at SIUE from what I read in the obituary. He had such a bright future ahead. He was just a sweet kid. It is a great loss for the Breakers family. Once you are a Breaker you are always a Breaker because the team is so close.”
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