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August 14, 2009 PONTOTOC, Miss. - John Paul Frerer would have started his senior year at Tupelo High School on Friday, but the Eagle Scout and triathlete died a day earlier while riding his bike.Frerer, 18, was training for a race scheduled for Saturday. He was riding his bike from Tupelo to Oxford when he was struck by a 1993 Chevrolet pickup truck driven by David McDonald of Tupelo shortly after 8 a.m., Mississippi Highway Patrolman Leslie White said. Both were headed west on Highway 6 near the Thaxton community in Pontotoc County. The accident is still under investigation. Frerer was planning on riding his bike 120 miles Thursday in preparation for the race, Lafayette County Coroner Lonnie Weaver said, quoting family members. Frerer was taken to the Baptist Memorial Hospital in Oxford, where he was pronounced dead at 9:47 a.m. "The whole cycling community is devastated," said Mark Bresee, a cyclist and triathlete who had ridden with Frerer. "He had really found his niche and was really getting into it. We're all just sick about this." Frerer competed in Saturday's King of the Hill Triathlon at Tombigbee State Park and was a member of the winning relay team in that event, along with fellow Tupelo High seniors Hannah Wilson, a swimmer, and Max Holman, a runner. "I've been riding in some races, but I'm not as serious as Hannah and Max" about their sports, Frerer said in an interview with the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal on Saturday. "We're hoping to get a (triathlon) team going at the high school." Frerer, the son of Jim and Liria Frerer, was also an Eagle Scout and had been a member of Tupelo High's Wave Connection show choir. School officials said counseling would be available for anyone who wanted it. The funeral will be Sunday at 4 p.m. at St. James, with visitation from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday at the church. |
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