LSU freshman pole vaulter Dillon Reidenauer and one other person died in a fiery car crash Wednesday near Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, La., according to multiple reports.
Reidenauer, 18, was in a car that was t-boned by a motorcycle being driven by 23-year-old Bodhi Linton, and both cars erupted into flames, per wbrz.com.
Linton also died in the accident.
“We are devastated by the tragic passing of Dillon Reidenauer, who was taken from us much too soon,” LSU track and field coach Dennis Shaver said in a statement posted Thursday to the school’s website. “Everyone in our LSU Track & Field family is keeping Dillon’s loved ones in our thoughts and prayers, as well as those of the other individual lost in the incident.
“We will do everything we can to make sure our student-athletes and staff have the resources they need to process the grief of this terrible loss. I would also like to thank Texas A&M for offering their support and compassion as we are on the road at College Station for the SEC Championships.”
Reidenaeur, who grew up in Abita Springs, La., had a decorated preps career at Fontainebleau High School in before arriving to the SEC School.
Her biography on the school’s website described her as one of the best high school pole vaulters in the state, having finished second outdoors at the LHSAA State Championships.
“She had her heart set on LSU and she was going to do whatever it took to get that goal,” Fontainebleau track coach Sam Sanders told nola.com.
He added: “Dillon was a model student-athlete. She was the kind of person any coach would want on any team.”
Riedenauer had been planning to earn her degree in interior design.
“LSU Athletics is heartbroken to share the tragic news of the passing of freshman track and field student-athlete Dillon Reidenauer in a traffic incident Wednesday evening in Baton Rouge,” the school said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are with Dillon’s family, friends and teammates, as well as with those impacted by the loss of another individual who died as a result of the incident. We are providing resources and support to all of our student-athletes and staff directly impacted by this tragic loss.”
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