North Texas junior high track coach hospitalized after shot put accident

A coach for Ponder Junior High School's track and field team is in the ICU after an accident during a regional track meet over the weekend.

Coach Blake Crutsinger was hit in the head with a shot put at around 2 p.m. Saturday, his wife Leslie Crustsinger said in a Facebook post. He was taken to an ICU at a Tyler hospital with a skull fracture and brain swelling.

"It was a FREAK accident!," she wrote in the Facebook post. "Also please pray for the young man from the other school who is taking this accident very hard!"

Further treatment over the weekend did not reduce the swelling enough, so on Monday, he had surgery to remove the left part of his skull. Leslie Crutsinger said Blake Crutsinger will remain in the ICU for at least two to four weeks. As of last update, he is still under sedation and on a ventilator. 

When the swelling on his brain goes down enough, the piece of skull can to be replaced. After that he will head to inpatient rehab, likely in Dallas, Leslie Crutsinger said.