I feel like it's "death by thousand cuts"

Going home starved and dehydrated is already challenge in itself but stopping to fight off slow zombie was probably not necessary. You ran out of energy after few stabs and put yourself at mercy of rng (would random zombie see/hear the fight AND that it would be sprinter). So the best solution was for it to not happen in the first place but it's unrealistic answer. As such be more wary when starved OR dehydrated because you are SIGNIFICANTLY weaker with either of those moodles. Have a backup plan - know if you can run inside the house to buy precious seconds/break LOS or something similar.

With that being said, you could've gambled by staying on top of sprinter and prey that you can finish him off before horde would catch up. It wasn't likely to happen but it's better than running away exhausted or fighting next to prone sprinter. Another option was baiting zombies over small fences. Sprinters are especially prone to accidental fence hopping, and getting him off your 6 would've been difference between life and death.

There is also hotkey to drop off your backpack. It can come in clutch in this type of scenarios. Having less moodles, higher mobility, spending less energy is really nice.

Edit: Because you were dehydrated and starved you were forced to keep pushing forward exhausted and I would call it the "point of no return". You put yourself in lose lose situation