Yet another example Monday proved life can throw evil twists at those who don’t deserve them.

In one agonizing week, tragedy struck three young athletes with Lawrence ties. The terrible news regarding their deaths is enough to make you cringe.

Monday, Olathe South girls soccer standout Tara Peck, 17, died from injuries suffered in a two-car automobile accident that occurred Sunday. Peck, an exceptional talent, was the offensive MVP of the Sunflower League last year, one of the best players in the state and a sought-after recruit. She had narrowed her college choices to Iowa State and Mark Francis’ Kansas University squad.

“She was extremely talented,” said Free State High soccer coach Jason Pendleton, who coached Peck on offseason teams. “But more importantly, she was an absolutely wonderful person. She did things the way you wished all kids would do things.”

Pendleton recently saw Peck at a KU soccer practice.

“She said it was 70-30 in favor of KU,” Pendleton said. “She had always been a KU fan.”

Peck’s death came five days after former Free State High athlete Brian Shirk, 22, was killed in a car accident in Topeka, and seven days after former Lawrence High athlete Chantal Anderson, 25, was killed in a car accident west of Lawrence.

Shirk, a 2000 Free State graduate, was a three-sport athlete who etched a permanent, positive impression in all of his coaches’ minds with an intense work ethic and super personality.

Anderson, the daughter of LHS cross country coach Chip Anderson, was a graduate student at KU, a fourth-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do and a certified athletic trainer that often helped KU athletes.

None of the three appeared to be at fault. Shirk was on his way to class when his tire disintegrated on westbound I-70, causing him to lose control. Anderson was a passenger in a car that appeared to have stalled on the dangerous U.S. 40 highway. Peck was a passenger in a car that was struck on I-70 in Jackson County, Mo.

No alcohol. No recklessness. Just a lot of unanswered questions as to why it was their time.

“It’s a tragic day,” Pendleton says, “when horrible things happen to young people.”

None of the victims were at fault, but their deaths should serve as a painful reminder of the dangers of everyday driving. You can’t be too careful or defensive when behind the wheel.

Three sets of parents are now without one of their life’s greatest joys, and that’s three sets too many.