Athlete dies, friend injured in car crash

Gabriel Pacione , 18, led the Hamilton-Wenham Regional High School's Generals to many track victories. (PHOTO BY JON MAHONEY FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE/2007)

WENHAM - A high school track star who earned a scholarship to Dartmouth College for the fall and a spot on the school's cross-country team was killed late Sunday when the car he was driving rolled onto its side and crashed into a tree just 2 miles from his home.

Gabriel Pacione, an 18-year-old who led the Hamilton-Wenham Regional High School's Generals to many victories over the past few years, was rushed to Beverly Hospital after the accident on Grapevine Road just before midnight. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.

A passenger in his car, Markus Hanna, 18, of South Hamilton, was also brought to Beverly Hospital with injuries that were not considered life-threatening, authorities said.

The accident, involving two childhood friends who were enjoying their final days of summer, shattered this close-knit community. "There are no words for a loss of this magnitude, which is reverberating throughout our communities," Marinel D. McGrath, superintendent of the Hamilton-Wenham Regional School District, said in a statement.

Keira Barber, 18, a recent graduate who ran track with Pacione, said the atmosphere at the school yesterday was tense. "It was pretty quiet," he said. "Everyone was sad. He was pretty well liked by everyone."

Police said they found Pacione's 1998 BMW 325i against the tree with Hanna and Pacione inside. Pacione was wearing his seat belt. Police could not confirm last night if Hanna was wearing a seat belt.

Captain Thomas Perkins said that the crash remains under investigation and that police are not ruling out speed or any other factor that could have contributed to the crash.

Grapevine Road is dark and winding and was slick at the time of the crash from rainfall earlier in the night, Perkins said.

A friend said Pacione was driving to his home when the accident occurred. The friend said Pacione and Hanna did everything together. Hanna will be attending Syracuse University in the fall.

Pacione, known as Gabe, began his high school career as a lacrosse player, but decided to continue running for all three sports seasons, in track and cross country. He had been named the Cape Ann League's runner of the year as a senior and the Boston Globe All-Scholastic Cross-Country Runner of the Year for Division 2 in both 2006 and 2007.

He worked as a counselor at a summer school program for children, and was involved in theater and arts programs.

He was popular and had a wide circle of friends, said Adrienne Belleau, a friend since they attended preschool together. "He wanted to know everyone, just as much as people wanted to know him," she said.

Yesterday, the school district made counselors available to talk to students at the high school music room. Counselors will be available today, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Friends had left flowers at a makeshift memorial at the crash site yesterday and wrote messages on a poster board. A picture of Pacione at a prom last year was left nearby.

Belleau said that Pacione was the type to take his track career serious, but have fun while he was doing it. He would wear short, pink shorts, or outfits that didn't match, just to get laughs out of people.

"He was such a goof, but he always made people smile," she said.