BRIMFIELD, ILL | Highland native Elizabeth Kobeszka -- a high school valedictorian with a record of success and service -- died during a bicycle race Saturday after she bumped another bike and hurtled into an oncoming truck.
Her mother, Vickie Kobeszka, described Elizabeth, 24, as a gifted and dedicated academic and athlete.
"When she was 16, she was 16 going on 60, that's how intellectual and responsible she was," Kobeszka said.
Although Elizabeth Kobeszka moved from Highland to Ohio in grade school, much of her family remains in the region. Elizabeth Kobeszka's grandparents, Chester and Virginia Ziemniak, own Highland Blueprint. Vickie Kobeszka graduated from Highland High School as Vickie Ziemniak. Elizabeth Kobeszka's father, Highland native Ed Kobeszka, lives in Missouri, Vickie Kobeszka said.
Elizabeth Kobeszka, most recently of Chicago, died at OSF St. Francis Hospital in Peoria about four hours after the crash Saturday morning during the 20th annual Proctor Cycling Classic, Peoria County Coroner Johnna Ingersoll said.
Kobeszka was riding with a pack of cyclists when she hit another bike about three miles from the finish line on the 17-mile route near Brimfield, about 20 miles northwest of Peoria, police said.
The collision knocked her into the eastbound lane of the country road, where a horse trailer pulled by a truck ran her over, police said. Ingersoll said Kobeszka died of multiple injuries, including head injuries. She was wearing a helmet.
Vickie Kobeszka said Monday she plans to call the truck's driver to tell him she does not blame him for the accident.
"It has got to be a horrific time for him as well," she said. "I'm just trying to get my courage up to do this."
Elizabeth Kobeszka founded her Ohio high school's chapter of the Z Club, a youth offshoot of Zonta International, a women's organization, her mother said. At Northwestern University, she ran cross country, participated in a Catholic group and studied in Spain. She was a saleswoman for Johnson & Johnson in Chicago when she died.
Elizabeth Kobeszka recently voiced uncertainty about her career, Vickie Kobeszka said. She wanted to be sure she was helping, doing the right thing, Kobeszka said.
"She always said, 'I want to make a difference,'" she said.
Kobeszka hopes her daughter's death illustrates the need to make sure athletes are safe at events, she said. Vickie Kobeszka praised hospital staff, her daughter's teammates and supportive strangers, but said her daughter's death could have been prevented if the road was blocked to traffic.
"Here's a young life that's gone now, unnecessarily," she said.
Visitation and funeral service arrangements were pending Monday at Fagen-Miller Funeral Home in Highland.
