Columbia Teen Drowns in Michigan

*** UPDATE 9:43 P.M. ***Investigators in Marquette Michigan are still trying to figure out why former Rock Bridge High School soccer standout, Arianna Alioto, drowned in a pool during a soccer workout.Family friends told ABC 17 News she may have had a medical emergency before falling into the pool. The 18-year-old was a freshman at Northern Michigan University.Arianna was known by her friends and family as just Anna, a girl with an unbelievable love for life and passion for soccer. It’s those memories that her loved ones are left with, and the part of her that will never be lost. “She made a huge impact, a lot of people loved her and i think that says a lot to what kind of person she was,” said her older sister, Sophia Alioto. The feeling of loss may never go away for Anna’s family and friends. “She just had a way of making everyone happy, and everyone smile, and making everyone feel special in some way,” said Anna’s friend and teammate Mackenzie Jacoby.She was both artistic and athletic, also a team member, a sister, and a friend. Although she is gone, her legacy lives on through her passion. “On the soccer field is just where she fit, its where she was supposed to be it just worked for her,” said Jacoby.Friends told ABC 17 News Anna would eat, sleep, and live for soccer, but her family was what she loved most. We may never understand why her life was cut short. For friends and family though, what are important are their memories. “As much as everyone loved her she loved them back just as much,” said her sister Sophia.Anna just graduated from Rock Bridge High School in May, so her loss is also being felt greatly at the school. Friends hope to have a candle light vigil in her honor at the end of this week. Services are currently being arranged for later this week at the memorial funeral home.*** ORIGINAL STORY ***MARQUETTE, Mich. (AP) – Officials at Northern Michigan University in Marquette are investigating how a freshman soccer player drowned during a team workout in a school swimming pool.The Mining Journal of Marquette reports Saturday that 18-year-old Arianna Alioto of Columbia, Mo., drowned shortly before 6 p.m. Friday at the Physical Education Instructional Facility.Alioto redshirted this fall while recovering from a knee injury.The newspaper reports that Alioto was a 5-foot-3 center midfielder who attended Rock Bridge High School. She also was a member of Missouri’s Olympic development team.Northern Michigan head soccer coach Matt Granstrand said Saturday in a statement that “it’s hard to grasp that Arianna was with us one moment and gone the next. Her death is devastating.”Northern Michigan University is in the state’s Upper Peninsula.