The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“Having her around was a great influence”
A recent graduate of Western State College was killed in a car accident on Highway 135 on the morning of Saturday, October 17.
Mt. Crested Butte resident Lisa Thomas Duits was killed when her car swerved over a steep embankment just south of the Roaring Judy Fish Hatchery.
She was 23 years old.
Duits graduated from Western State College earlier this spring. She was recently married in September to 2009 Western graduate Zachary Duits.
During her time at Western, Lisa Duits went from a “walk-on” athlete with little training to being one of the school’s best cross-country runners. Western State College head cross country coach Jennifer Michel says, “She basically started in the back of the pack and continued to work hard and move up.”
Duits earned the Paul Wright Award in 2009 as Western State’s top female senior student-athlete. She led the women’s cross country team to a podium finish in 2008 and was the Rocky Mountain All-Conference champion in the steeplechase in 2009. She earned six All-RMAC honors last season between cross country and indoor and outdoor track and field.
Duits graduated summa cum laude with a double major in physical education and exercise science. She was a dean’s list student every semester and earned the Ernest Degutis Scholarship in the Exercise and Sport Science program in 2007.
After graduation, Duits continued to assist the cross country team as a volunteer coach during the summer while continuing her training and working to become a member of the Adidas Boulder Running Company club team.
Michel says she remembers that Duits did not want to leave the Gunnison Valley and had a great desire for coaching. “She was an excellent student and had a lot of academic accolades… having her around was a great influence and a great connection with the other young women,” Michel says.
While the exact time and cause of the crash is still under investigation, according to a state patrol accident report, Duits was heading northbound on Hwy. 135 sometime very early Saturday morning. A Gunnison County sheriff’s deputy was the first one to discover the crash shortly before 9 a.m., and State Patrol was called in to assist.
Duits had apparently veered into the oncoming lane of traffic, when she swerved back to the right lane, and then overcorrected the turn—causing the car to spin and skid back into the oncoming lane and off the embankment.
According to the State Patrol the car, a 2002 Subaru Outback, flipped and became airborne, initially landing on its roof, before flipping again one and a half times, coming to rest on its wheels.
Duits was wearing a seatbelt. She was found deceased when officers arrived.
According to the state patrol accident report, alcohol is suspected to be an influence in the crash.
Local memorial services were held at Western on Tuesday afternoon. Duits’ family will be holding a memorial service in Denver this Saturday at 3 p.m. in Thornton, Colo. In lieu of flowers, a fund has been established at the Western State College Foundation. Memorials can be made by calling (970) 641-2237 or online at western.edu/foundation.
