A spokeswoman for the Greensboro school said 20-year-old Andre Jospin Milandu died Thursday afternoon. The school says the sophomore from Knightdale died from complications of an elevated heart rate.
According to the university, Milandu was participating in a supervised, voluntary open tryout for the track team.
ABC11 Eyewitness News spoke to Milandu's sister and brother Friday.
"I'm hurt because he died doing what he loved to do so much which was run track, Milandu's sister Ferline Milandu said.
She says she had just dropped her brother off for his tryouts and he'd asked her to pray for him.
"He was self-motivated, he pushed and I know he would want us to keep going," Ferline Milandu said.
Persistence paid off for Milandu, he made the team, but it would be his last race.
Family members confirm that Milandu was running during tryouts when he collapsed. They say his heart stopped and he was taken to Moses Cone where he was pronounced dead.
Milandu's family says he had no pre-existing health problems and they're waiting on test results to determine the exact cause of death.
Last year, Milandu missed the chance to join North Carolina A&T's track team. Determined, he spent months training for tryouts and anxiously called his former high school coach for guidance.
"I was like just leave it on the track, you have nothing to lose," Prince Castell said he told Milandu. "This is what you really want to do just go out and do it."
Castell says he did just that as track team captain at Knightdale High School.
"They couldn't say they were tired and complain, because Andre would just go out and get it done," Castell said.
"He knew he was fast, but he never bragged about it, he'd just say, "I got to practice and practice, and practice and practice,'" Milandu's friend TJ Petty said.
North Carolina A&T State University Chancellor Harold Martin says the school community is deeply saddened by Milandu's death.
"The Aggie family is deeply saddened by our loss," Chancellor Harold L. Martin said in a message published on the university's website. "Our hearts go out to his family. We have been in close contact with them throughout this unfortunate incident. They have requested their privacy at this time."
In addition to that message, the university created a memorial page for comments and condolences.
To visit the page, click here.
Milandu attended Broughton High School in Raleigh and later Knightdale High School where he graduated in 2009. He is survived by his mother, father, sister, one brother and two close friends who he referred to as his brothers.
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