Baldwinsville, N.Y. – Last spring, Ava Wood’s track coach realized she wasn’t signed up to run track. She was puzzled.
Ava was the fastest girl on the team, and she loved to run. Then her mom called to explain she had simply forgotten the deadline.
“I was so relieved,” said Tiffany Stubbmann, who coached Ava in track. “I completely counted on Ava. If I said ‘Ava do this’ she’d do it. She was self-directed, had drive and an unprecedented work ethic. And she was fast.”
Stubbmann is also a counselor at school and on the district’s crisis response team. She spent Friday meeting with dozens of grieving, distraught students today as news of 14-year-old Ava’s death rocked the Baldwinsville community.
Ava, a ninth-grader, never made it to Durgee Junior High School Friday morning.
She was found dead that morning in the home she was living in with her father, Christopher Wood, 51, at 6 Triangle Place in Baldwinsville. She died of a fatal shot, police said. Her father killed himself in an apparent murder-suicide; police are still investigating. They were found dead in two separate bedrooms, with Ava found in a bed, police said.
Ava was popular, social and had a tight circle of friends, her coaches and friends told syracuse.com | The Post-Standard. She made the honor roll. She had a natural ability at track and soccer, and pushed herself to go faster, friends and coaches said. She was on the junior varsity soccer team.
Classes pretty much halted Friday as the news spread. Ava’s friends and classmates sat at lunch tables in tears, parents said. Students and families lined up for grief counseling, which will continue all weekend.
Emily Calkins, also a ninth-grader, was a close friend of Ava’s. They sat across from each other at lunch every day, Emily told syracuse.com. Emily wrote about Ava because it was too hard to speak about her.
“She would always give me her Welch gummies,” she said.
Ava loved soccer, and she loved to laugh and make others laugh, her friend said. She was popular and social.
Emily said Ava would tell her how much she loved her dad and how she wanted to have a family and kid someday. Ava wanted to “spoil them and love them endlessly,” Emily wrote.
The two laughed about things, like how they didn’t understand geometry. When Ava laughed, her eyes would often close and they made little rainbows, Emily recalled.
“It was so cute and we always laughed about it, and took pictures of it” Emily wrote. “Nobody else could re-create that face.”
On the junior varsity soccer team as No. 18, Ava was a skilled player, said her coach, Tom Hartshorn.
“She had an energizing personality on and off the field,” he said. “This loss is unimaginable.”
In the spring, Ava ran track. She would have competed with the junior varsity team this spring, her coach said.
Ava nearly always came in first in her events and was the top scorer in the 200-meter dash and the 400-meter run. She could run 200 meters in about 28 seconds and 400 meters in 68 seconds, Stubbmann said. Once she came in second, and was unhappy - but it fueled her to work harder the next time, she said.
“She always, always tried hard,” Stubbmann said. “She was competitive and self-directed. She had natural ability, but trying hard was her thing.”
Off the field and track, she was an honor student. Stubbmann said her report cards showed her teachers loved having Ava in class, and she tried as hard with her studies as she did with sports.
“She’s one of those special students that reminds you why you love coaching,” Stubbmann said. “She was a leader, a serious competitor and all-around athlete.”
Ava Wood dressed as a bee in third grade at Elden Elementary School. Ava Wood, 14, was fatally shot on Jan. 20, 2023. It appears the girl’s father killed her and then killed himself, law enforcement officials have said.Photo courtesy of Heather Snowman
Heather Snowman’s son went to preschool with Ava for about four years at Childtime, and they often attended birthday parties. Snowman said she was always a vibrant, loving child. She dressed up as a bumble bee at the Elden Elementary School Halloween parade and flashed Snowman a smile when she took her picture.
Another student, Lily Rapp, shared an Instagram post about Ava. She said they would go to soccer games at Christian Brothers Academy and “when we saw each other there she ran up to me and gave me the biggest hug.”
Lily also wrote: “The rest of the night when we were together she couldn’t make me stop smiling. She never failed to make someone laugh.”
All day today at school, coach and counselor Stubbmann triaged with Ava’s friends, who were shocked and grief-stricken.
T.J. Fraher, Durgee’s principal, sent families an email Friday evening saying it was probably his toughest day in 27 years of education. He commended the students for their “kindness and willingness to support one another during this tough time.”
The district canceled all after-school, evening, athletic and performing arts practices and events for Friday.
Counseling and support services for students and families will be available at the high school from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
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Elizabeth Doran covers education, suburban government and development, breaking news and more. Got a tip, comment or story idea? Contact her anytime at 315-470-3012 or email edoran@syracuse.com