Sheriff: Former Palatine prep sports standout drowned in Wisconsin lake
A Carthage College student athlete from Palatine drowned in a Wisconsin lake while trying to retrieve a drifting personal watercraft, officials said Monday.
Nineteen-year-old Courtland A. Cornelius, a former Palatine High School football and track standout, had been swimming with a friend Friday in Whitewater Lake when he became distressed and slipped below the surface, according to a post on the Walworth County sheriff's office Facebook page.
Authorities responded just before 5:30 p.m. to the lake near N7721 Ridge Road in Whitewater - about 55 miles from Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where Cornelius was a first-year student. Divers found Cornelius' body about 9:55 p.m., officials said.
Cornelius graduated in 2017 from Palatine High School, where he was a star in the 100-meter dash. He competed in track as a freshman at Carthage College and ran a record-setting race as part of the college's 4x100 relay weeks ago, school officials said.
A funeral service is scheduled for June 2 at Glueckert Funeral Home, 1520 N. Arlington Heights Road in Arlington Heights. A visitation will take place 9 to 11 a.m.