The men and women’s Elizabethtown College swim teams flew into the airport in Fort Lauderdale on Friday afternoon.
Most of the team left the airport just minutes before the shooting.
“Walked out right as the shooter walked in. So lucky and grateful to be okay. Please pray for those killed at the Fort Lauderdale airport.”
That tweet coming from Elizbethtown College freshman Sarah Helt from Red Lion, York County.
She’s a member of the Blue Jays swim team.
Helt, along with 31 other Elizabethtown swimmers and coach Mark Wilson are feeling grateful to be at a hotel in Florida.
“I was driving, but I was shocked you know, by the grace of god, thank god we weren’t there,” said Wilson.
The team from Lancaster County landed at terminal one at the Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport about an hour before the shooting.
The team was only on the road for about 10 minutes when they heard about the deadly shooting at terminal 2.
“I told all the kids to call their parents, just to tell them that they’re all safe. We weren’t there. Everything’s good.”
One team member, Sarah Alps, took a later flight and ended up landing in Fort Lauderdale after the shooting.
The team says she is safe, but it took hours for her to be reunited with the team at their hotel.
Coach Wilson says it’s team protocol in these situations for the captains to make sure everyone is ok.
“If something were to happen, the guy captains would be responsible for making sure the guys were accounted for and the girl captains would do the same thing and then they would report to me.”
The swim team is in Florida for winter training and they have a swim meet on Saturday.
Millersville University’s swim team is also in the same area for training, but that team flew down a few days ago.
