Tommy Birch

tbirch@dmreg.com

The Iowa State football players saw the car sinking in the Laguna Madre Bay and sprinted over.

The taillights were still visible, but the front of the car was submerged, and it was taking on water from side to side. A woman was inside, screaming for help, Iowa State's Anthony Lazard recalled.

“She was like, ‘Get me out! Get me out! Get me out!'" he said.

Two weeks later, 22-year-old Luisa Maria Castro credits the live-saving maneuvers of several Iowa State football players with saving her life. Among her rescuers were current ISU football players Jack Spreen of Bedford, Ind.; Josh Jahlas of Cedar Rapids; Spencer Benton, of Van Meter; and Lazard, of Urbandale. Former players Matt Swoyer of Southlake, Texas, and Joe Doran of Paton, Ia., also assisted in the rescue, which happened in the spring break destination of South Padre Island, Texas.

“They really are heroes, and I am forever grateful for what they did,” Castro said in a telephone interview with the Register Thursday.

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A witnessing police officer concurs that the players saved her life.

“That car completely sank in less than a minute and if not for them jumping into the water and pulling the driver out, she would most certainly have drowned,” officer Michael Schiltz said in a statement from the city to the Register.

The events began to unfold at about 8 p.m. on March 16. That's when Jahlas was standing on a hotel balcony and saw Castro's car go into a canal near the 1700 block of Padre Boulevard. Jahlas, thinking someone was inside, yelled to his friends.

Lazard, Spreen and Doran took off to help. The three jumped into the canal and swam over to the car. Soon they got to Castro, who was trapped in her car and trying to get free.

The three fought to break her loose, punching at the vehicle’s front window. She kicked at it. Nothing seemed to work.

“I was getting worried that we were going to watch this girl drown to death, because no matter how hard we were hitting it, it wasn’t cracking or spidering for a while,” Lazard said.

Castro managed to break a small hole in the front windshield, and the three men took it from there. They created a large enough gap to pull her out.

They helped her to shore, where Jahlas, Benton and Swoyer collected her.

Castro identified her rescuers as Iowa State football players, and the city identified Lazard, Spreen and Doran as the men who swam to Castro's rescue.

Castro was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated, according to a police incident report. The incident report says Castro's blood alcohol content was nearly twice the state's legal limit of 0.08.

Spreen, Lazard and Jahlas are reserve senior linebackers. Benton is a reserve sophomore defensive end.

“I have no words to express how appreciative I am of them,” Castro said. “Even when I messaged them, I still felt that the words or what I was saying to them to thank them and how grateful I was — it just felt like that wasn’t enough.”