A crisis intervention team is helping students at the school of a Cape Breton teen who died after running in the Toronto Marathon.

The runner has been identified as 18-year-old Emma van Nostrand of Coxheath, N.S.

The teen collapsed on Lake Shore Boulevard near the end of the 42-kilometre race on Sunday.

Police say the teen was found without vital signs and attempts were made to revive her, but she was pronounced dead after bring rushed to hospital.

Police say she suffered a medical emergency but the exact cause of death is not yet known.

“I was sure it was a mistake when I first heard it, and didn’t really believe it until I heard it from a second source,” says emergency room physician Dr. Chris Milburn, who is also a runner and a friend of the van Nostrands.

“Her parents are both veteran marathoners. It was kind of a family thing,” says marathon veteran Lauchie MacKinnon. ”They ran together and travelled to big races together.”

Her parents, Steve and Katherine, were in Toronto with their daughter and also ran in the race.

Just weeks ago, the teen and her three siblings were on the sidelines when two bombs went off at the Boston Marathon. Their father had just crossed the finish line and they narrowly escaped harm.

The news of van Nostrand’s death has devastated students at Riverview High School, where the teen was a Grade 12 honour student.

Principal Joe Chisholm says van Nostrand was a model student, was known for her academic and athletic involvement in the school, and was well liked by both students and staff.

“She played soccer for us. She played basketball for us. She was an honours student,” says Chisholm. “This school term, to improve her French, she actually took it upon herself to go to France and take a couple of months in France.”

The race was the teen’s first full marathon.

Milburn says this kind of tragedy is rare and shouldn’t discourage people from running.

“This kind of event, that we call sudden cardiac death in athletes, can occur during any kind of athletic competition,” he says. “So, it’s nothing to do specifically with the stress of the marathon.”

An autopsy has been scheduled, but Milburn says there is no guarantee it will determine whether the teen had any sort of pre-existing medical condition.

Her parents are expected to arrive back in Nova Scotia Monday evening.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Ryan MacDonald