Former BC track star dies in Las Vegas car crash
By THE BAKERSFIELD CALIFORNIAN
LAS VEGAS -- Farrilyn Gaston Diaz of Las Vegas, who was the first Bakersfield College woman to win a Southern California regional track championship, was killed when her car struck a semitrailer on Interstate 15 in Las Vegas at about 6:30 a.m. Monday, the las Vegas Sun reported.
Gaston, 54, is a member of the BC Track and Field Hall of Fame. She competed in track in 1977-78 and won the SoCal regional in the shot put with a 39-11 in 1978.
That mark set a BC record in the shot and she also set the BC women's record in the discus (123-11/2). Also in 1978, she won the shot (39-71/2) and discus (119-1/2) at the Metropolitan Conference Championships.
Nevada Highway Patrol troopers told the Sun that Gaston's car was traveling northbound on I-15 when it drifted across the dirt median and struck a southbound truck. She was pronounced dead at the scene, the Sun reported.
"She was one of my first athletes. She was great," said Sandy Bowers, who was BC's throws coach in the late 1970s. "Some of those you don't forget."
Facebook
Twitter
Mobile
RSS
Most CommentedMost Popular
About two dozen protesters stood in front of Kern County Superior Court next to the Liberty Bell Thursday morning to make a statement about police brutality.
The death of a man in custody following a prolonged struggle with Kern County Sheriff's deputies and CHP officers and the subsequent fracas over confiscated witness cellphones have gained international attention and raised concerns here that the incidents could tarnish the county's emerging...
Sheriff’s investigators served a search warrant on Kern Medical Center and the Mary K. Shell Mental Health Center seeking medical records to find possible reasons for David Sal Silva’s behavior prior to and during his encounter with law enforcement, The Californian learned Friday.
The Kern County Sheriff's Office is out of control. That's one conclusion many people will draw based on the events of the past two weeks and in the context of recent years.
Blood stains are still visible on the sidewalk at the corner of Flower Street and Palm Drive, where a Bakersfield man struggled with as many as nine officers and later died this week.
Classes were canceled at Bakersfield High School Monday after three small bottle bomb explosions struck campus, authorities said.
David Sal Silva’s screams seem like they will never stop.
Responding to what he called a case that “has consumed the media and our community,” Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood said Tuesday he has asked the FBI to conduct a “parallel” investigation into the death of Bakersfield father of four David Sal Silva, who died May 8 after he was beaten by deputies.