It was typical of the four friends.
Madeysen Kleve, Kacie Carlsted, and Mitch Bayerl, all 18, and 17 year old Brie Barfknecht had traveled to St. John's University Wednesday afternoon, to cheer on some friends running in a regional track meet.
They were returning home for more school activities just after 6pm, when the car they were in pulled up to the intersection of County Road 6 and Highway 55 just south of Annandale.
Life changed for all four, when for reasons unknown, the Nissan Altima pulled out into oncoming traffic and directly into the path of a Dodge pickup, giving the driver no chance to stop.
The collision was violent; Kleve was dead on the scene, and Carlsted and Bayerl were thrown from the vehicle.
Both are hospitalized in critical condition.
At this point, State Patrol investigators aren't sure if the two ejected passengers were wearing seatbelts.
"We don't have any answers, but we have to be able to process that this is a part of life, and it's really a difficult part," reflected Howard Lake Waverly-Winstead Superintendent George Ladd, as counselors and clergy helped students come to grips with the loss Thursday morning.
"We'll just process the day the best we can with students, and at the end of the day, we'll take a look at what we did today and what we need to do tomorrow."
The crash happened just five days before the seniors were to walk in their school's graduation ceremony. Ladd says the mood of Sunday's graduation will be more somber, more of a memorial than a celebration.
All four teenagers are honor students, and Carlsted is Howard Lake Waverly-Winstead's valedictorian. "They were just great kids in the wrong place at the wrong time," said Ladd.