Family: Ariana died doing what she loved

There is no question that Ariana Ptacek died while doing something she loved.

Ever since she was 3 years old, Ariana shared a passion for snowmobiling. She continued riding throughout her childhood, teenage years, and into adulthood. In fact, she even won third place last year at a competition in Wisconsin.

“She was so excited for this year,” said Randy Ptacek, Ariana’s father. “She was bound and determined she was going to win this year.”

Ariana never made this year’s race, which took place last Saturday. The 26-year-old died instantly in early February after crashing her snowmobile into a tree in upper Michigan.

It has left family members stunned.

“It’s such a tragic thing,” Randy said. “God decided he wanted to pick up little girl angels right now.”

Randy, who has operated snowmobiles for much of his life, hailed his daughter as “one of the best riders I have ever known.” He said he knows she was happy at the end of her life.

He recalled how Ariana began snowmobiling with an Artic Cat Kitty Cat when she was 3 years old. “She was all about that. I knew she was going to be a daredevil from day one,” Randy said. “It was her favorite activity.”

Most notably, Ariana loved to operate the snowmobile going fast, according to Randy. “It was the thrill of it for her,” he said, adding she often handled her snowmobile “wide open at 85 mph.”

It’s still a mystery as to why Ariana crashed around 7:45 p.m. on Feb. 3 on a trail that the family has been on many times over the years. Besides living in Owatonna, the family has a second home in Marenisco, Mich., located about seven miles from the crash site.

“Something broke on the snowmobile, or she was startled by something, maybe an owl,” said Randy, who was ahead of her and circled back to make the discovery. He noted no deer tracks were found in the area. “There was a slight curve, but I don’t feel she failed to navigate the curve. It was something out of her control. She did not make any mistakes.”

After hitting a tree, Ariana went airborne for about 60 feet before landing in another tree, Randy said, noting he walked about 100 feet in the dark trying to find her.

Other snowmobilers stopped to help rescue Ariana and bring her back to the trail where Randy and others performed CPR.

“I blew into her mouth for one hour,” he said, adding a stranger did chest compressions. She died before emergency workers arrived on scene.

She was at least the 10^th snowmobile fatality in Michigan this winter, according to the DNR. Last year, there were 13 snowmobiling fatalities in Michigan.

Randy said an autopsy was performed indicating she died of blunt force trauma.

Ariana’s death has left her family devastated. The family took some comfort in how the small town of 500 people in Michigan showed up to support them after the tragedy. Randy related how many people were crying when they showed up to offer their support.

“I looked up and said, ‘Ari, you broke a town,’” Randy said.

About 20 friends traveled from Michigan to Owatonna for Ariana’s funeral. There was also a large contingency of co-workers from Kwik Trip at the funeral. Ariana was an assistant store leader in St. Peter.

Randy said Ariana, who graduated with an accounting degree from Minnesota State University-Mankato, aspired to be a store leader for Kwik Trip. She started working at Kwik Trip in 2013, and Randy recalled how she helped open several stores. She graduated from Owatonna High School in 2014.

“It tears me up a bit to think about how she did so much in such a short time,” Randy said. “She developed so many friendships and was moving up in the company.”

Sara Ptacek remembers her sister as being “my travel buddy.” One of their bucket list things to do was travel to Ireland. They spent two weeks together in Dublin in 2019.

“It was the best trip ever,” said Sara.

The sisters also shared matching tattoos.

“She was a joker,” added her mother, DeeDee Ptacek.

For now, the Ptaceks are trying to figure out how to live without Ariana.

“Day by day, minute by minute, we’re trying to find some kind of new normal, but I don’t know what that’s going to look like,” said Randy.

Asked how they plan to go on, DeeDee, said: “I don’t think we’ve figured that out yet.”