Two WSU students dead in crashes

Washington State University students and friends began mourning the loss of two of their own this weekend, after two separate collisions took the lives of Rachel Pomeroy, a 20-year-old student from Monroe, Wash., and Dashiell Mortell, 19, of Bainbridge Island, Wash.

Pomeroy, who was studying to become a pediatric nurse at WSU, died at about 4:30 p.m. Sunday when traveling eastbound on state Highway 26, 16 miles west of Washtucna, Wash., Her 2003 Acura collided head on with a 2016 Ford Explorer driven by 60-year-old Donald Graham of Bothell, Wash.

Graham was not injured.

"Rachel was an incredible person," said her boyfriend, Jack Ray. "She was passionate about everything she did. Her heart was giant and so was her ability to love."

Ray said Pomeroy enjoyed CrossFit, books and adventuring, and focused a good deal on her career goal.

"All she wanted to do was help sick kids," he said.

Mattie Pickard said other people always took center stage to Pomeroy.

"She was always thinking about others, and Jack Ray was always on her mind," she said. "I remember Rachel was not able to make it to Jack's birthday - maybe it was Valentines - last year and called me asking if I could make chocolate-covered strawberries for Jack, from her, to discover the next morning."

Pomeroy's friend Meredith Metsker said she met Pomeroy at Moscow CrossFit.

"Rachel was one of those people who was kind and welcoming to everyone she met. Her smile lit up every room she entered," Metsker said. "We will all miss her bright personality."

"She was my best friend," Ray said. "I will love her forever."

Only a day prior, 19-year-old Dashiell Mortell of Bainbridge Island died at about 2 p.m. when the eastbound vehicle he was riding in with four other students rear-ended a car that had stopped for a collision on Interstate 90 near Cle Elum, Wash.

The vehicle, an SUV driven by 21-year-old WSU student Andrew Hammond of Bremerton, rolled onto its side and was struck in the roof by an oncoming pickup pulling a trailer.

Hammond, 21-year-old Chanlin Morgan of Bremerton, Wash., and 21-year-old Justin Crawford of Vancouver, Wash., were transported to Kittitas Valley Hospital in Ellensburg.

John Crawford, 18, younger brother of Justin Crawford, was the most seriously injured of the survivors, and was transported to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, Wash., where his condition was upgraded from critical to serious Monday.

Brittany Schwindt, formal recruitment chair for Alpha Delta Pi sorority at WSU, said she met Mortell during his freshman year at WSU, where he was studying political science and sociology.

As they were both in the university's Greek system, she became his "big" and he her "little."

"Dash was the sunshine out of our friend group," Schwindt said. "He went out of his way to make sure I was doing good in classes, that I was having a good day, or just a simple I love you. When any of his friends walked into the room, he would drop everything and run up to them a give them the biggest hug."

For Schwindt, the weekend was additionally tragic, as she was friends with Pomeroy as well.

"I've known Rachel since I was a freshman in high school, we played volleyball together," she said. "The death of both Dashiell and Rachel breaks my heart. But I know both of them would want to keep things positive. Rachel also lit up every room she walked into. Her huge smile and laugh never failed to make you smile. Both loved their friends and families and the Coug nation. I'm honored to have called them both my close friends."

Both collisions remain under investigation by the Washington State Patrol

Shanon Quinn can be reached at (208) 883-4636, or by email to squinn@dnews.com.