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FORMER LADY VOL TRACK STANDOUT ILREY SPARKS DIES IN CAR CRASH Ilrey Sparks thrown from vehicle in wreck that kills Univ. of Texas adviser
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Dec. 28, 2002

Police in Florida are still investigating an auto accident Thursday that claimed the lives of two people, including former University of Tennessee track standout Ilrey Sparks.

"We're not sure why the vehicle drifted across the median," Florida Highway Patrol Lt. Bill Leeper told The Austin-American Statesman. "We're not sure until we talk to all the occupants. We may never know what happened."

The accident happened about 8 a.m. and did not appear to involve speeding, said Leeper.

Meanwhile, University of Texas women's track and field coach Bev Kearney remained in serious condition.

Kearney was injured in a one-vehicle, roll-over accident in Sanderson, Fla., about 40 miles west of Jacksonville. Sparks, a University of Texas academic counselor, and Muriel Wallace, the mother of Jamaican Olympian Michelle Freeman, died in the accident. The women, in Florida visiting family and friends for the holidays, were on their way to Orlando to visit Disney World.

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