Iowa State football players surprised by attention for spring-break heroics

AMES — When Anthony Lazard rolled up the sleeves of his sweatshirt and stuck out his right arm, the evidence of his good deed was right there.

A few jagged scars on Lazard's elbow are all within a couple inches of each other and slightly discolored, but each one was just a small price to pay in comparison to the alternative.

The scars are a reminder of how Lazard and a handful of other Iowa State football players saved a woman's life while they were on spring break at South Padre Island, Texas.

Last Friday, the Des Moines Register published a report that Lazard, Jack Spreen and Joe Doran rescued 22-year-old Luisa Maria Castro from a sinking vehicle in the Laguna Madre Bay while vacationing on March 16. Josh Jahlas, Spencer Benton and Matt Swoyer also assisted in the rescue.

Since the Register's report, the story has gone viral and has been picked up by ESPN, Yahoo Sports, Bleacher Report, Fox News and others. But to the players, the reaction has been surprising since they feel like what they did wasn't out of the ordinary.

This is what a group of heroes look like. Jumped in and saved someone from drowning in their car. God bless. March 17, 2016

This is what a group of heroes look like. Jumped in and saved someone from drowning in their car. God bless. pic.twitter.com/K7AqG64KtQ

— ISU WOPA (@ISUWOPA)

'We just hope everyone would have done that same thing if they would have been put in that situation,' Jahlas said. 'We just happened to be in the news and people noticed us I guess. It really wasn't anything special. We just happened to see something and acted as we thought we should have.'

Lazard is completing an internship this semester and spends most of his time in the Bergstrom Football Complex with the football team, but hasn't been insulated from social media or the comments online.

'I'm in the Berg all day and don't go on campus ever,' Lazard said. 'So I don't really run into people, but I like the comments. Some of them are outlandish and fun that I read, but it's all right I guess.'

Jahlas was standing on the balcony of the players' hotel room when he saw the taillights of Castro's vehicle in the bay and yelled to his buddies. Lazard — a former lifeguard — ran down to the bay with Spreen and Doran and jumped into the water while a few others followed them outside and stood on the shore.

When the three players got to the car, they could hear the woman's screams and immediately tried to punch out the window. It all felt like a blur.

'We were just thinking hit, hit, hit,' Lazard said. 'That's the only thing I could think of. I never thought to yell to one of the guys on the shore if there was a rock or feel around and try to find a rock close or a metal thing. Or maybe if she would have taken the seatbelt in her hand and hit the glass with that, it would have been an easy way to break it.'

Waiting on the shore, Jahlas said, felt like the rescue lasted an hour as opposed to the roughly five minutes of real time. Once his friends and the woman returned to shore, Jahlas said he just remembers seeing Lazard's right arm — the one he used to break through the car window — covered in blood.

'My mind just went to the worst,' Jahlas said. 'I saw the ambulance over there and thought, 'OK, we're going to the hospital. I'm getting all the money I have in my safe and then we'll come back out and we're going.' They all ended up being fine besides a couple scrapes.'

Once the players returned to Ames and resumed spring practice, Iowa State coach Matt Campbell said he joked with them a bit about the story, but also recognized in staff and team meetings how proud he was of the players' quick instincts.

'I think a lot of times we continue to learn from our players,' Campbell said. 'I think we're always learning and we're always growing and here's three young men, and some other young men too that I think were involved, that were really heroic and really at that point, 'What decision are you going to make?' You hope you make the same decision, but I'm really proud of those guys and really proud to be able to coach those guys.'

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