The Daily Record
Triton Loses Two
Car Crash Claims Friends’ Lives
By TOM WOERNER
Of The Record Staff
Students celebrating the end of the school year are now suffering with grief after two students died in a car accident outside Dunn Tuesday night.
Preston Wood, 16, and Kzon Crenshaw, 18, both of Dunn, died in the single-car accident which occured just after 7 p. m. on Ashe Avenue in Dunn. It was the day before the last day of school at Triton High School where they both attended.
Preston was driving a 2001 Ford Mustang when he lost control of the car and crashed into two trees, according to the North Carolina State Highway Patrol.The car went off the right side of the road, Preston overcorrected before going off the left side of the road. The vehicle hit two trees before coming to rest.
Preston, who was not wearing a seat belt, was ejected from the vehicle. Kzon was wearing a seat belt.
A spokesperson for the Highway Patrol said the estimated speed at point of impact was 80 mph.
Triton High School Principal Chip Mangum said the impact was so great the car split into two pieces.
Preston died on impact. Kzon was taken by helicopter to WakeMed in Raleigh and passed away in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
M r. Mangum said the accident is a tragedy.
“They were both well-liked students,” Mr. Mangum said.
See Accident, Page 3
Preston Wood and Kzon Crenshaw Accident
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Harnett County Schools Director of Public Relations Patricia Harmon-Lewis said the pair were often seen together.
“They were very best friends,” Mrs. Harmon-Lewis said. “This is such a sad day for the students and staff of Triton.”
Both were known to hang out in the school’s auto mechanics garage, working on cars, trucks and golf carts. They had a specific love of Mustangs, like the one Preston drove in the accident.
“They both had a love of cars,” auto mechanics teacher Harold Strickland said.
The accident occurred only three years after Kzon won a battle with osteosarcoma, a cancer in his leg. He won the battle following intense chemotherapy that forced him to do part of his school work during his freshman year at Triton.
Kzon planned to continue his love of cars following graduation. He already had plans to attend the Advanced Technology Institute in Virginia.
He told The Daily Record in a previous story about his battle with cancer that he hoped to establish his own drag racing team. He also enjoyed classic cars as a hobby.
A group of friends of Kzon and Preston gathered at the site of the accident Tuesday afternoon. All had smiles on their faces as they talked about their two friends.
“The first thing I think of when I think of Kzon is his personality,” his girlfriend Kelsey Clemons said. “He was always goofing off, but that was just Kzon.”
“They were both amazing young men,” Andy Parker said. “When I think of Preston I think of a kid you couldn’t help but like.”
“Kzon could brighten the mood no matter what was happening,” Nick Scultz said.
Mr. Mangum said Kzon will be recognized at Saturday’s graduation exercises. A consultation with family members will be held before details will be released. He said an empty chair, with a black ribbon, will be set up at graduation exercise as a memorial to Kzon.
The deaths come at a time when the Triton student body was mourning the loss of a former student in Texas. Army Pvt. Eddy Rae’Laurin Gate died along with eight other soldiers in a training exercise.
She was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas. A vigil for her in Dunn was held less than an hour after the two boys were in the wreck.
Friends gather around the site where two Triton High School students lost their lives in an accident Tuesday night. From left are Andy Parker, Nick Schultz, Christi Parker, Kelsey Clemmons and Katier Parker. Kelsey is holding a piece of bark from the tree Preston Wood and Zhon Crenshaw hit in the car accident.
Daily Record Photo/Tom Woerner
