BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Several prayer vigils and fundraising efforts sprang up after Ryder Trull, a freshman at Keystone Heights High School, was seriously injured in a traffic crash at State Road 100 and Sunrise Boulevard on Monday, August 26.
According to the student’s grandfather, Trull’s sister Bryanna suffered a cut and concussion and was released from a hospital the same day of the crash. Ryder suffered a skull and multiple facial fractures.
The 14-year-old two-sport star also has strong ties to the Melrose Youth Sports Association, where he pitched and his father coached. The sports group raised money for the family at the organization’s concession stand on Friday after the crash.
One group is collecting money for t-shirts that will express support for the family. A couple collected donations at the Union County-Keystone Heights varsity football game on August 30.
As of press time, Trull’s parents reported on social media that they are receiving positive reports from their son’s physicians.
The athlete’s mother, Casey, teaches junior-high pre-algebra at Keystone Heights Junior-Senior High School. Two days after the accident, the school asked students to wear blue to show support for the JV quarterback.
Keystone Heights’s First Baptist Church has held several events to pray for Trull.
On the evening of Labor Day, dozens of people gathered at the high school parking lot not only for Trull, but also for another student killed in a Gainesville traffic crash and for Bryce Daniels, an offensive lineman on the varsity football team who was seriously injured during the team’s Friday, August 30 game with Union County.
