2 locals involved in crash
Auto collision kills 2; Lee, Eubanks among 5 injured
Tiffany Lee of Gambrills and Alex Eubanks of Bowie, sophomore and freshman women’s lacrosse players at the University of Mount Olive in North Carolina, were passengers in a sevenperson automobile crash that claimed two lives Friday morning.
Madison Mergl (Sayville, New York) and Ann Wray (Oakland, New Jersey) died of injuries sustained in the accident when a Jeep containing all seven students ran a stop sign and was then hit by a tractor-trailer truck. Six of the seven passengers were members of the Mount Olive women’s lacrosse team.
Lee and Eubanks, as well as three other students, were airlifted to Vidant Medical Center in Greenville, according to a report in US Lacrosse Magazine.
Lee, a biology major at Mount Olive, is a midfielder on the Trojans lacrosse team and played for Arundel High.
Eubanks is a goalkeeper for Mount Olive lacrosse and attended St. Vincent Pallotti. She studies exercise science at her university.
The other members of the crash were Chaney Partrich of Chapin, South Carolina; Amber McCarthy of Havelock, North Carolina; and former baseball player Jett Swetland of Sparta, Ohio.
CBS17 first reported the news, and Inside Lacrosse received the following statement from interim University of Mount Olive President Dr. Ed Croom:
“It is a sad day for the University of Mount Olive. We are in prayer for everyone involved in this horrific accident,” the statement reads. “We extend our heartfelt sympathies to the families of Ann Wray and Madison Mergl, and we uplift all of the others in our prayers as they continue to receive medical treatment.
“The University of Mount Olive is a close-knit community and this has hit us all hard.”