© 2024 WNMU-FM
Upper Great Lakes News, Music, and Arts & Culture
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

WI man receives national honor for trying to save women at Marquette County beach

PITTSBURGH, PA--   A Rhinelander man who died trying to save two women at Little Presque Isle last year has been posthumously awarded the Carnegie Medal for outstanding bravery. 

In June of 2016, Justin Schroepfer, 24, dove into 50-degree water to save Abigail Sprinkle and Kaylilyn Tansey from strong currents when they attempted to reach rocks off the shore.

Schroepfer and Tansey drowned. Sprinkle survived.

The Carnegie Medal is given throughout the U.S. and Canada to those who risk their lives to an extraordinary degree while saving or trying to save the lives of others. Schroepfer is one of 20 people recently awarded the medal for outstanding civilian heroism.

His family will receive a financial grant. 

Nicole was born near Detroit but has lived in the U.P. most of her life. She graduated from Marquette Senior High School and attended Michigan State and Northern Michigan Universities, graduating from NMU in 1993 with a degree in English.
Related Content