Lebanon mourns loss of 18-year-old who died at a half-marathon race

LEBANON, Mo. — The Lebanon community is mourning the loss of 18-year-old Rudy “Junior” Zevallos, who died Saturday morning after competing in a half-marathon race.

Zevallos attended Lebanon High School and was planning to join the military after graduation.

“We love my brother. We will continue to love him. And this is just a very unfortunate event that has taken control of our lives. And it’s so unfortunate and tragic,” said Iyleena James.

Lorraina and Iyleena are Zevallos’s big sisters and they told OzarksFirst although this is one of the hardest moments of their lives, hearing how he impacted the lives of so many people is heartwarming.

“I don’t wish this type of heartache on anybody, but it’s also nice to know that, you know, Junior just made all these friendships and connections with so many different people, whether you were 70 years old, 40 years old or 16, you know, he just he loved everybody,” said James.

On Saturday, Junior was running at the Frog Hill half marathon but just after he crossed the finish line, he collapsed and was taken to the hospital where he later passed away.

The cause of his death is still unknown but his core body temperature was extremely high.

“I want to thank Larry and Javier, who were at the Frog Hill Marathon. They stepped in instantly and started administering CPR and kind of taking control of that situation,” said James.

The family told OzarksFirst Junior had a goal of finishing the half marathon in under 2 hours and he accomplished that by crossing the finish line in one hour and 57 minutes.

“You know, he couldn’t take the fact of him not beating what he told himself he was going to do. so that just goes into his competitiveness and need for, you know, being active and sticking to his word,” said Lorraina Zevallos.

Whether Junior was working out and playing football or spending time with his family and girlfriend,  his family says moving to Lebanon really brought the best out of him.

“He was our pride and joy, all of us. he’s the baby to everyone.”

Funeral services for Junior will take place at the First Baptist Church in Lebanon on Monday. The viewing is from 11 to 1 with the public funeral beginning after that.

Here is a go fund me link the family has set up to pay for the funeral expenses.

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