A cross country and long-distance running star as both a prep and collegiate athlete, U.S. Army Sgt. Jeremy Robert Wright was killed Monday in Afghanistan when the Humvee vehicle he was riding in hit a roadside bomb near Kabul. He was 31.

A graduate of Southwestern High School in Shelby, Indiana, Wright was the state high school boys 3,200m champion in 1992 and was a two- time All-American in cross country at Wabash College, where he won seven Indiana Collegiate Athletic Conference distance- running championships and is a member of the school's Athletic Hall of Fame. Wright attended Wabash on a four-year academic scholarship and graduated with honors with a degree in chemistry.

The 1998 and 1999 winner of the Pikes Peak Ascent, a 13.32-mile race near Colorado Springs, up to an elevation of more than 14,000 feet, Wright also became an avid snowshoe racer, competing in 5 km and 10 km races.

A member of the 1st Special Forces Group based in Fort Lewis, Wash., Wright enlisted in the Army 2 & years ago and had been stationed in Afghanistan for eight weeks. While in Afghanistan, Wright was allowed to go off-post to run in the mountains. Funeral services are pending.

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