Vigil Held to Remember Alex Kogut

    It was described as one of her favorite activities, swimming. Tonight teammates that shared time in the pool and found memories gathered to remember Alex Kogut. Her former teammates organized a candlelight vigil at the village green to honor her memory just down the road where we graduated from high school. Those in attendance prayed and reflected. And former teammates sang the New Hartford fight song. Hundreds came out to show their support and earlier today friends reflected on her luminous personality.

                High School teammate Marisa Mauro said, "She would walk into a room and literally just light it up and I just don't know how else to describe her personality because every day I saw her walk into swim practice, she was just always in a good mood."

James Capecelatro attended High School with Alex. He said, "Purple signifies domestic violence and also is one of her favorite colors. Her prom dress was purple and so we all decided we'd wear purple to honor her."

Maggie swan with Alex and she said, "She was probably one of the most positive, outgoing, loving, caring people I've ever met. No matter how hard a swim practice was, she was yelling at us to keep going, like cheering for us to keep going. And no matter what her time was in the pool, she always walked away with a smile on her face."

Todd Owens went to high school and college with Alex. He remembered a great friend today, "She was one of those girls where, a lot of people change when they go to college and she didn't change she was still as happy as always, she was probably one of the nicest people there."

Maggie added, "She was one of my best friends and she was a best friend to many people and it's going to be hard without her but we're strong and she taught us to be strong because she was so strong"

The vigil was a sign that Alex Kogut will always be remembered.