Maisey O’Donnell, an 18-year-old state diving champion from Massachusetts, was killed along with two of her friends in a car accident in Florida over spring break.
The accident occurred Monday night near Panama City, Florida, when the SUV carrying O’Donnell and her friends struck a tractor-trailer that was making a U-turn in the median strip of Highway 98.
The impact was so devastating that the SUV was knocked off the road entirely and ended up in the nearby woods.
O’Donnell was transported to the hospital but could not be saved. Four teens were in the SUV, all students at Concord-Carlisle High School. O’Donnell, along with the driver Jimmy McIntosh and passenger Hannah Wasserman, was killed; a fourth, unidentified student, remains hospitalized. The 19-year-old tractor-trailer driver was not hurt in the accident.
“It’s a tragedy,” said Boston area diving coach Joe Chirico.
“The little kids looked up to her; the other divers looked up to her. It’s a tragedy that somebody at the top of their game, going to the best academic school, one of the best divers in the nation, was cut so short.”
Tributes to O’Donnell have been posted on social media.
One former teammate wrote, “I don’t know what to say. I am so grateful I got to be your best friend,” the Instagram post read. “When we slept over on Saturday I didn’t know that would be the last time I ever slept over…You had such a bright future ahead of you. You were the smartest prettiest funniest girl i’ve met.”
O’Donnell had planned to attend Williams College in the fall.
Florida Highway Patrol said the crash remains under investigation.
