EAST LANSING – Kristen Kelsay met Mike Sadler in the fall of 2010 in a freshman economics class at Michigan State.
As it turned out, the two shared a mutual friend as well as common interests.
She was on the volleyball team, he was on the football team. They both pushed themselves athletically and achieved at a high level in the classroom. They became friends.
Sadler's intelligence, sense of humor and kindness all stood out to Kelsay, who on Sunday evening said goodbye to her friend.
As darkness crept across the Michigan State campus Kelsay laid a bouquet of white hydrangeas at the base of The Rock – a Michigan State landmark nestled between the Red Cedar River and Auditorium – that was painted in memory of Sadler, who was killed in a car crash Saturday night in Wisconsin.