UPDATED with funeral arrangements. Car crash kills 17-year-old Owen Valley star diver
Update: This story has been updated with funeral arrangements and comments from the principal.
A 17-year-old star athlete from Owen Valley High School was killed in a Thursday night car crash.
Tristan Calvin, of Spencer, died from injuries he suffered when his car, southbound on Ind. 231, left the highway near Lanes Road and struck a metal culvert head-on.
The impact caused the vehicle to flip and land on its roof, said Owen County Sheriff Ryan White.
When authorities arrived around 8 p.m. Thursday, they had to cut Calvin out of the vehicle, the sheriff said.
White said the cause of the accident is unknown and it may remain that way, as no one else was in the vehicle. The sheriff said while it had sprinkled earlier that day, it did not appear that road conditions or inclement weather contributed.
White said he also saw no evidence of “braking or skidding or anything like that.” He said it appeared the student simply ran off the road for an undetermined reason and struck the 5-foot-tall round, metal culvert that goes underneath the highway.
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The sheriff said Calvin had been coming from practice with the Owen Valley High School band and was headed to a friend’s house.
Big loss for the small Owen Valley community
Calvin was a star athlete, participated in cross country and swimming and held school diving records.
According to his obituary, Calvin worked part time as a cook at Wendy's in Spencer and also participated in marching band, jazz band, solo ensemble, concert band and pep band. In his spare time, he enjoyed playing video games.
He would have been a senior in the school year that starts Aug. 3.
White said Calvin was “a great kid” who kept very busy with athletics, band and other activities.
White said he knew the family personally as he and they were neighbors for a few years.
“Good people,” he said.
Owen Valley High School Principal Robert Boltinghouse said about two-thirds of the school's roughly 650 students participated in some form of extracurricular activity, and Calvin participated in many, which means he knew a lot of his fellow students.
"A kid that everybody liked," the principal said. "Helpful, polite. Just what you want your kid to be."
The evening of Calvin's death, Boltinghouse and Dylan Camer, the school's band director, discussed whether they should cancel the practice that had been scheduled for Friday — but they decided to go ahead with the summer band camp practice to gather the members to talk to them, make counselors available and to see what their needs were.
"It hit several of them pretty hard," Boltinghouse said, "but it was nice to have them there for each other."
The school will host the funeral services, which, he said, exemplifies how the small community is pulling together.
"There's not a playbook on how to do this," Boltinghouse said. "Just be there for one another."
Funeral services for Tristan Calvin
According to the obituary, Calvin was born Nov. 19, 2005, in Bloomington. He was the son of Richard Arthur and Koreenia Lee (Lucas) Calvin. Survivors also include siblings, including a twin sister, and grandparents.
Funeral services will be at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Owen Valley High School Auditorium. Visitation will be from 4 p.m. until time of service. Pastor Josh Cunningham will officiate. You can leave online condolences at westparrishpedigo.com
Boris Ladwig can be reached at bladwig@heraldt.com.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Car crash kills 17-year-old Owen Valley star athlete
