Hempfield swim team captain dies of car crash injuries

Hempfield Area High School's swim team lost its captain Tuesday, a senior described as an accomplished and popular athlete and scholar.

Judson Shiffler, 18, of West Hempfield died Tuesday morning in UPMC Presbyterian hospital in Pittsburgh from injuries suffered when his car crashed into a hillside Monday, according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office.

High school Principal Kathy Charlton called Shiffler a “solid, really great young man.”

Shiffler took “his leadership role as a member of the swim team very seriously,” Charlton said. “He was really a force on that team.”

At 9:30 a.m. Monday, shortly after Shiffler finished swim practice, the 1997 Chevrolet Cavalier he was driving went through a stop sign at the T-shaped intersection of Route 136 and Millersdale Road.

The car struck a road sign, traveled about 15 feet up the hillside and struck some trees, state police said. The investigating trooper could not be reached Tuesday.

Shiffler was extricated from the wreckage and flown to the hospital by medical helicopter.

His death was ruled accidental as a result of blunt-force trauma injuries of the head and extremities, the medical examiner said.

As news of the teen's death spread, students visited the crash scene to say a prayer or leave a memento.

One group tied a blue Hempfield Spartan blanket to a tree; others laid bunches of flowers along the embankment.

A piece of a car's broken side mirror lay among the blossoms.

One of Shiffler's classmates, senior Cheyenna Sethman, said he was a great person.

“He was amazing. He was nice to everyone. He talked to everyone, and everybody knew him,” said Sethman, who knelt in prayer with a friend at the crash site.

Swim coach Kevin Clougherty said Monday that Shiffler attended swim practice that morning even though his good grades had earned him the day off.

About 50 community members gathered in the evening in West Hempfield Presbyterian Church to share memories of Shiffler, pray, offer donations and sign sympathy cards.

Shiffler's family did not attend the church, but youth director Jacob Kauffman said the teen's family lives nearby.

“We just knew that we needed to open up and let the kids come,” Kauffman said.

Church officials read from the Bible and opened the floor to those in attendance to share memories.

“Dealing with something like this, it's impossible to do by yourself,” Kauffman told those in attendance.

Austin Reffo, a senior, described Shiffler as a great person whom everyone loved.

“This is just sudden,” said Reffo, a church member. “I wouldn't think this would've happened to him.”

“It just hits a lot of people's hearts. It's very upsetting,” he said.

Counselors and psychologists will be available for students and faculty members from 8-10 a.m. Wednesday in the high school, according to a letter from Superintendent Barbara Marin posted on the district website.

Shiffler was an accomplished swimmer who won the Class AAA 50-yard freestyle competition at the WPIAL swimming championships as a junior in February with a time of 21:27 seconds.

Afterward, he told a reporter, “Sometimes it's just luck. You just keep practicing until every time you get everything perfect, because if you get one bad start or one bad turn, the race is over.”

He placed 16th at the state Class AAA swimming championships in the same event in March.

Shiffler competed at the WPIAL level in the 100-yard butterfly and was one leg of the 400 free relay in February.

CollegeSwimming.Com ranks Shiffler as 35th among high school swimmers in the state and 584th among recruits from the graduating class of 2015.

Clougherty said Shiffler had recently signed a letter of commitment to swim for West Chester University next year.

The coach described West Chester as one of the top Division II college swim programs in the country.

“It's an outstanding program,” Clougherty said.

Shiffler was the defending champion in the WPIAL 50-yard freestyle event and, in Clougherty's opinion, “had a pretty good opportunity to win again.”

Shiffler was a member of the school's Future Business Leaders of America association.

“He had done well academically,” Charlton said. “It's just so awful that something like this could happen.”

Staff writer Joe Napsha contributed. Renatta Signorini is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 724-837-5374 or rsignorini@tribweb.com.