College Student Reading Book Near Lake Credited with Saving 3 Girls from Drowning

A college student who was at a Seattle park for an air show rescued three girls who were on the verge of drowning at a nearby lake.

“To save three people, I didn’t think twice about myself,” Lillie Vehling, the Good Samaritan, told ABC affiliate KOMO. “I’m just glad everyone’s safe.”

The incident happened on July 31 at Genesee Park, KOMO and Fox affiliate KCPQ reported, where Vehling was sitting and reading a book while waiting for the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels air show.

She said that she was scanning the water of Lake Washington after reading a page from her book when she noticed something wrong. ---More...

????WOW!!!

A college student is being praised as a HERO after she saw 3 little girls drowning in Lake Washington, jumped in, and saved ALL THREE GIRLS.

The last one was UNCONSCIOUS, underwater, tangled in a rope, only her hair was still floating.

All 3 SURVIVED!!!! ❤️

Her name… pic.twitter.com/UjT7m21Fq9

— Matt Van Swol (@mattvanswol)August 11, 2026

A college student is being praised as a HERO after she saw 3 little girls drowning in Lake Washington, jumped in, and saved ALL THREE GIRLS.

The last one was UNCONSCIOUS, underwater, tangled in a rope, only her hair was still floating.

All 3 SURVIVED!!!!

Her name is Lillie Vehling.

She is an engineering student at UC Davis and an attacker on the women's water polo team.

She was in Seattle for a summer internship and went to Seafair for the very first time, sitting at Genesee Park waiting on the Blue Angels with a book in her hands.