Family Tragedy Mars Triumph

University of West Virginia star Kristen Quackenbush was honored as the nation’s best female collegiate gymnast. The honor came less than two days after her 48-year-old father was killed when a tree limb fell on him.

Kristin, a native of the Utica, N.Y., area, couldn’t make it to the ceremony to accept the award because she attended her father’s wake.

John B. Quackenbush was killed Monday night while cutting down a tree in Deerfield, N.Y. A professional landscaper, he was standing in the crook of the tree when a lashed and weighted limb swung loose and struck him.