Part-time Carmel Swim Club coach drowns in country club pool

CARMEL, Ind. (WISH) — A part-time Carmel Swim Club coach drowned in the Woodland Country Club last week and loved ones are mourning the loss of 22-year-old Benny Liang.

Liang was found unresponsive at the bottom of the pool on July 20. He is from Whitewater, Wisconsin and spent a few years swimming at Wabash College. Liang graduated this year.

Carmel Swim Club head coach Chris Plumb says Liang had a heart condition which forced him to stop swimming. But he decided to continue his passion for the water by coaching in Carmel.

From young children to high school teenagers, Liang embraced it all and even helped coach at Indiana University one summer. College friends say the 22-year-old’s humor and gift of intelligence will be missed and even his short time in Carmel left a big impact.

“The reach he had with just the parents and the coaches and the athletes,” Plumb said. “In that short time, you just felt his presence and he lived his values and his passion each and everyday and all of us felt that.”

Wabash College sent News 8 a statement saying in part, “Benny was a very bright and outgoing young man. He was an active member of Delta Tau Delta and competed for two years on the college’s swimming and diving team. It is a tragic loss for everyone.”

Friends and family are honoring Benny by donating to the American Heart Association. If you’d like to donate, click here.

The Hamilton County Coroner’s office says an autopsy was completed on July 22 and the results are pending. The toxicology report results are pending as well can take four to six weeks.