Swimmer rescued from Markle Pool

MARKLE, Ind. (WANE) - A lifeguard, a pool manager, and an emergency room nurse are being credited with saving the life of a teen who went under water trying to swim back to shore from a raft at the Markle Pool.

Ryan L. Lengacher, 17, of Harlan, Indiana was trying to swim to shore from a small raft located in the middle of the pond when he began having difficulty and went under water.

"There was a sign there that said ' Good Swimmers Only.' I was like, 'Do I take the chance or not?'," explained Lengacher. He took that chance and swam 20 yards to the small raft. After catching his breath, he started back for shore, but got tired and started sinking. "When I started drowning, I was like 'Oh geeze. This is not good."

Markle Pool lifeguard Evan Welter saw Lengacher go under. "I counted to 15 seconds and after 15 seconds were up, he didn't come up. So I had to jump in after him," said Welter. He dove down 18 feet and brought Lengacher to the surface and swam him to shore. 

Emergency room nurse Barbara Kaperka from Arizona and pool manager Steven Ochs met the two on shore.

"It was a heartbreaking event," remembers Ochs. "I could see his lips were blue. He was not breathing. He had a fixed stare. Not conscious. I could detect no pulse."

The three began to perform CPR on Lengacher, checking his pulse, until he finally spit up water and started breathing on his own.

Lengacher says he woke up in the ambulance wondering what had happened.

He was taken Lutheran hospital by the Wells County EMS.

"I just want to thank the people, the person that saved me and thank God that I'm living," Lengacher said fighting back tears in his hospital bed. He's in fair condition and will spend one night in the intensive care unit.

"Some very special people was watching and took care of my son," said Lengacher's father Max. "I'm so grateful and thankful." The family is calling everyone that helped save Lengacher a hero, but those heroes say they were just doing their jobs.

"No, (I'm) not a hero," said Welter. "I was just doing what I was trained to do."

The Markle Police Department, the Markle EMS and Huntington County Sheriff's Department also took part in the incident.