Rowing team member from Massachusetts college killed in Vero Beach crash

A 20-year-old college student was killed Wednesday morning and 11 others hurt when a van carrying the women’s rowing team from a college in Massachusetts crashed in Vero Beach.

The crash involving a silver passenger van and a red pickup happened near Indian River Boulevard and the Merrill P. Barber Bridge that leads to and from the ocean.

Those in the van were members of the women’s rowing team from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. They were heading for training at the Vero Beach Rowing Club when the crash happened.

The college identified the student who died as Grace Rett, who had just turned 20 on Tuesday.

Rett was a standout on the school’s rowing team. In December 2019, she earned a world record, rowing for 62 hours with minimal sleep on a rowing machine.

She was an English and Psychology major from Massachusetts, according to CBS News.

Officials with Indian River County Fire Rescue say along with the fatality, everyone else in the van — as well as the pickup driver — were hurt.

Police said its preliminary investigation showed the van, while going southbound, turned left into the path of the oncoming pickup truck as it traveled northbound along Indian River Boulevard. Rett was sitting in the right front passenger seat.

The team was in town for a week-long winter training that’s hosted by Vero Beach Rowing Club.

Holy Cross’ president Rev. Phillip Boroughs, the school’s Athletics Director, and the Rett Family were on their way to Florida, as of Wednesday afternoon.

“Our community has suffered a tragic loss. I extend my deepest condolences to Grace’s family, members of the women’s rowing team and their coaches, and all who loved Grace,” said Boroughs in a statement Wednesday.

WPEC-CBS12 is a news partner of the South Florida Sun Sentinel.