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Anthony OliveriESPN.com
Hobbs, New Mexico – Greater than 100 folks gathered at a vigil on the golf course behind the Southwest College residence Monday evening and remembered the seven members of the boys’s and girls’s golf groups who died in a two-vehicle crash within the West. Texas Freeway final Tuesday.
Many individuals emotionally keep in mind those that died. The cafeteria server remembered one of many victims, Mauricio Sanchez, as a vibrant gentle on the campus. Edgar Negret, the varsity’s soccer coach, recalled his relationship with golf coach Tyler James due to the video video games. Footballer Kimberly Nevarez has spoken of her totally lacking out on her roommate, Jackson Zane, who is legendary for his distinctive dimples.
Brianna Brooke, a senior on the ladies’s soccer workforce, directed assemblers to go to the varsity group for comfort.
“Lots of us journey the identical route,” she mentioned of the lengthy highway journeys from japanese New Mexico by way of western Texas. “It may have been any of us. All of us must depend on God. …Let’s lean on one another. That is what we want.”
Due to the robust winds, college students and college raised cell phone lamps as a substitute of candles to gentle up the New Mexico sky in reminiscence of the seven who died. Baseball participant AJ Cordova led the mixed group in a countdown of 5. Cell telephones had been raised within the air in silence till somebody shouted “We love you, Mustang!” – A reference to the varsity mascot.
Then Steve Abel, the college’s athletic director and baseball coach, requested everybody to congregate in the course of the golf course. The group of individuals, a lot of whom wrapped themselves tightly in blankets, numbered three, and shouted in unison: “Household!”
“Whenever you come dwelling in your college breaks, you do not miss town. You miss the folks,” Negrit mentioned. “We’re all household. I really like you all.”
The accident occurred in distant West Texas, on a two-lane freeway with a most velocity of 75 mph that passes by way of oil fields for dozens of miles between cities. A small memorial over the shoulder of that highway, surrounded by a barbed wire fence, sits on the crash web site.
In response to the Nationwide Transportation Security Board, a Dodge pickup pushed by a 13-year-old touring south on FM 1788 crossed the centerline after the left entrance tire failed — which the NTSB mentioned was a spare. Two folks within the truck additionally died – 38-year-old Heinrich Siemens and the unidentified baby driver.
Investigation is underway.
The victims of the accident from the college are James, 26, from Hobbs. Sanchez, 19, from Mexico; Zane, 22, of Westminster, Colorado; Travis Garcia, 19, of Pleasanton, Texas; Carissa Raines, 21, of Fort Stockton, Texas; Lacey Stone, 18, from Nocona, Texas; and Thiago Sousa, 18 years previous, from Portugal.
There have been additionally two survivors – Hayden Underhill, 20, and Dayton Value, 19, each from Canada. They continue to be in hospital greater than 100 miles to the northeast in Lubbock, Texas.
Earlier on Monday, there was one other vigil, as a smaller get together with fewer than 20 folks gathered in entrance of the Lea County Courthouse in Lovington, New Mexico. USW Dean Ryan Tipton mentioned there are preliminary plans for extra memorials subsequent week.
The non-public college’s on-campus scholar inhabitants of over 300 consists of roughly 95% of student-athletes. Whenever you embody these remotely, the varsity has greater than 1,000 college students. The college is a part of the Crimson River Athletic Convention and competes within the NAIA.
