“Name that Year” is designed to put your knowledge of Tracy and its newsmakers of the past to the test. Each week, we will publish a news item that ran in a past edition — maybe it was a major event, or a story about a Tracy resident — it’s up to you to determine in what year that particular news item hit the pages of the paper:
• PROMPT MEDICAL ATTENTION SAVED THE LIFE OF A 15-YEAR-OLD WABASSO BOY in the spring of this year at the Tracy Area High School track complex.
Luke Guetter, a freshman at Wabasso High School, collapsed after crossing the finish line in the 1600 meter race. CPR efforts began almost immediately, when no pulse could be found on the unconscious youth.
Guetter’s heart started beating again only after an electric shock had been administered by a heart defbrillator brought to the scene by a Tracy police officer.
Guetter was rushed by ambulance to the Tracy Area Medical Center emergency room. After his condition was stabilized, the young man was transferred at about 9 p.m. by a helicopter air ambulance to Sioux Valley Hospital in Sioux Falls.
The life and death drama unfolded without warning, shattering what had been an idyllic, sun-sparkled April afternoon. In the race’s last 100 meters, the freshman accelerated to pass Tracy-Milroy runner Jeremy Cowells to claim third place. But seconds after the finish, Guetter collapsed, grabbing onto a chain link fence on his way down.
Meet officials and off-duty medical personnel from the crowd rushed to his assistance. A 911 emergency call was made at 5:40 p.m.
• Last week’s answer: A new child daycare business — Toys ‘n Tots — opened its doors in Tracy in 1986.
