15 January 2020

Sad news comes from Florida where a van with rowers collided with a pickup truck, killing one of the rowers.

The College of the Holy Cross sophomore Grace Rett, who turned 20 yesterday, was killed in Vero Beach, Florida, this morning when the van carrying the college’s women’s rowing team collided with a pickup truck. The police said Rett was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash. She was in the front passenger seat of the van when the pickup truck hit the front passenger side. The Holy Cross rowing team were in Florida for a winter training camp.

In December, Rett, who was from Uxbridge, Massachusetts, set a new world record for longest continual rowing on an erg – rowing for two days and 14 hours.

Other members of the rowing team were hurt in the accident. A spokesperson for Lawnwood Hospital said eight of the victims from the crash were taken to the hospital: three patients were in critical condition, three were in serious condition, and two were in good condition.

Members of the staff of the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, including the college president Rev. Philip L. Boroughs, are travelling to Florida to support the team. Parents of the women are also on their way to Florida.