Olivia Dunne and the LSU gymnastics team mourned the death of Tigers track star Dillon Reidenauer during their meet against George Washington on Friday night.
Dunne and her teammates wore black ribbons in their hair to honor the 18-year-old pole vaulter who was killed in a crash around 9 p.m. on Wednesday.
The car Reidenauer was in was T-boned by a motorcycle, and both vehicles burst into flames near Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, La, according to wbrz.com.
Bodhi Linton, the 23-year-old driver of the motorcycle, also died in the crash.
pole vaulter Dillon Reidenauer, 18, who died
in a crash this week with black ribbons. Olivia Dunne/Instagram
Dunne posted a photo of herself and teammate Alyona Shchennikova sporting the silk black bows on their ponytails in the locker room before the meet — with a black heart on the photo — to her Instagram stories.
She also posted a black-and-white photo of Reidenauer and reposted an LSU track and field post of photos of her and teammates donning the back ribbons, captioned “Competing for Dillon tonight” with a black heart emoji.
No. 2 LSU would score a season-high in points in a 198.125-195.475 victory over No. 35 George Washington.
The LSU community has been in mourning since the news of Reideneaur’s death broke on Friday.
“We are devastated by the tragic passing of Dillon Reidenauer, who was taken from us much too soon,” LSU track and field coach Dennis Shaver said in a statement posted Thursday to the school’s website. “Everyone in our LSU Track & Field family is keeping Dillon’s loved ones in our thoughts and prayers, as well as those of the other individual lost in the incident.
“We will do everything we can to make sure our student-athletes and staff have the resources they need to process the grief of this terrible loss. I would also like to thank Texas A&M for offering their support and compassion as we are on the road at College Station for the SEC Championships.”
Reidenauer, a Louisiana native was described in her LSU bio as one of the best pole vaulters in the state during her time at Fontainebleau High School.
Reidenauer’s high school coach Sam Sanders called her “a model student-athlete” in comments to Nola.com.
“She was the kind of person any coach would want on any team,” Sanders said. “She had her heart set on LSU and she was going to do whatever it took to get that goal.
“It’s difficult to process — losing someone so quickly like that. It’s a very somber day.”
