Driver killed in Marin County crash was standout teen athlete
The driver killed in a fiery crash early Monday on Highway 101 in Corte Madera has been identified as a 17-year-old from Marin City.
Kwentyn Wiggins was killed at 2:19 a.m. when his 2004 Honda sedan drifted off southbound Highway 101 just past Tamalpais Drive, struck a tree and caught fire. He was alone in the vehicle.
Wiggins had just finished his junior year at the private Branson School in Ross, where he was a standout quarterback and a point guard on the basketball team.
“This is absolutely devastating,” Branson basketball coach Jonas Honick said. “It’s been really hard. More than just shocking, it’s really, really unfair. He was so young, with an incredibly promising future.”
Wiggins was a dual-threat quarterback for the Bulls’ eight-man football team, posting gaudy numbers to lead the team to a North Coast Section championship in the fall.
He was most known athletically, however, for his basketball prowess. He ran the point for Branson as a sophomore and junior, helping the Bulls compile an overall record of 61-4 and a Marin County Athletic League ledger of 29-1 over that span. Branson won two MCAL and NCS championships with Wiggins starting. The Bulls reached the Northern California Division I title game this past winter. Wiggins was selected to the all-MCAL second team behind an all-senior first team.
“Kwentyn had a magnetic personality,” Honick said. “He was a natural leader. His emotional IQ was off the charts. He really knew how to read people and understand people. He was such a phenomenal human being: positive, upbeat, thoughtful, sensitive, caring.
Wiggins’ younger sister, Jaliyah, was a star freshman in the MCAL this past season, earning second-team all-league honors. His, older brother DeMarqus, the MCAL Player of the Year in 2010, led Redwood to an undefeated run through MCAL and a postseason sweep as a senior.
Kwentyn was also survived by his mother, Latanya, and father, Orlando.
The boy was one of six people to die in traffic accidents in the Bay Area from Saturday to Monday morning.
The cause of the crash is under investigation. Witnesses are encouraged to call the CHP at 415-924-1100.
IJ editor Dave Allen contributed to this report