Former NCAA woman of the year, family members killed in small plane crash in Upstate New York
COPAKE, New York (WABC) -- The 2022 recipient of the prestigious NCAA woman of the year award, a former soccer player at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was one of the six victims killed in a plane crash in upstate New York on Saturday, according to a statement from her family.
Karenna Groff, a medical student at NYU Langone in the department of neurosurgery and a former soccer star at MIT, died when a twin-engine turboprop plane crashed 10 miles from the Columbia County Airport near the town of Copake, New York, on Saturday afternoon.
Five others -- including Groff's partner, James Santoro -- died in the crash, the family said.
Santoro was originally from Tewksbury in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, and worked at a hedge fund in Connecticut.
"He was most looking forward to proposing to his love, Karenna, this summer," the family said in a statement provided to ABC News.
Only one woman each year is chosen as the NCAA woman of the year, with three finalists each chosen from Divisions I, II and III. The honor has been given since 1991 and includes winners such as Basketball Hall of Famer Rebecca Lobo (1995), Olympic gold medal swimmer Kimberly Black (2001) and three-time Olympian triple jumper Keturah Orji (2018).
The passengers who died were all members of Groff's family, including Groff's parents, Joy Saini and Michael Groff; her brother, Jared Groff; and his partner, Alexia Couyutas Duarte, the family said.
Jared Groff worked as a paralegal in Manhattan. Joy Saini was a pelvic surgeon and Michael Groff was a neurosurgeon, as their daughter was training to be, according to the family.
"We will remember them as the six brilliant, dynamic and loving people that they were," the family said. "The families ask for privacy during this difficult time."
The family was celebrating a birthday and the Passover holiday.
During a press briefing on Sunday, the National Transportation Safety Board said the pilot reported a "missed approach" and "requested vectors for another approach." Officials said as the pilot was coming back around, "the radar indicated a low altitude alert."
An air traffic controller attempted to "relay this low altitude alert" and tried to contact him three additional times, but was unsuccessful, according to the NTSB's lead investigator for this incident, Albert Nixon.
"There was no response from the pilot and there was no distress call," Nixon said.
The aircraft, which had departed from the Westchester County Airport bound for the Columbia County Airport, crashed "at a high rate of descent" in a "flat agricultural field," the NTSB said.
Authorities would not say who was flying the plane, but the family statement noted Michael Groff was "an experienced pilot, who fell in love with flying after being taught by his father at the age of sixteen."
Groff was a captain for MIT's Division III soccer team and finished her career second all-time in goals and points at the school. She was a third-team All-American in her final season.
NYU's Grossman School of Medicine put out a statement saying she "demonstrated exceptional skills and unwavering passion towards the care of patients and the mission of our institution."
"She had already distinguished herself as a rising star inside and outside the classroom, with limitless possibilities on the horizon," the statement said.
NTSB investigators expect to be at the crash site for about a week and a full accident report could take between 12 and 24 months to complete.
Copake is located about 50 miles south of Albany, near the border with Massachusetts.
(ABC News and The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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