The Associated Press
BISHOP, Calif. — A California university mourned Tuesday after a fiery crash involving its cross-country team killed three people and left 16 injured — many of them student-athletes — in the eastern Sierra Nevada.
Four people remained hospitalized in extremely critical condition, California Highway Patrol Officer Dennis Cleland said. Two were airlifted to a medical center.
California Baptist University cheerleading coach Wendy Rice, 35, of Corona died when an out-of-control sport utility vehicle struck the van she was driving as the team headed to a high-altitude training camp in Mammoth on Monday night, the Riverside school said.
Two people in the SUV also died. Their names were not immediately released by the Inyo County coroner.
The university was closed Tuesday and officials said a memorial service was being planned.
Rice had been at the school for about four years and left a husband and two children.
“She was remembered for being loving and very caring,” university spokesman Mark Wyatt said. “And in fact, she was helping out with the cross-country team as a driver.”
The cause of the crash remained under investigation, but there was no evidence that alcohol or drugs were involved, Cleland said.
Three university vans were on northbound U.S. Highway 395 a few miles from Bishop when a southbound Ford SUV with five people inside drifted onto the shoulder. The SUV then veered back, overturned and rolled through the center divider, striking the van and bursting into flames, the CHP said.
A Subaru traveling behind the vans also hit the flaming SUV.
A deputy pulled a man from the burning vehicle and went back for a second person who was screaming for help. The deputy couldn’t get back inside the SUV because of the flames and heat, according to a CHP report.
A third person who was burned and hurled from the SUV walked past the deputy then died on the pavement, the report said.
One student-athlete in the van and three people in the SUV were in extremely critical condition, Cleland said. The SUV patients had third-degree burns.
The woman driving the Subaru suffered third-degree burns to her arm, Cleland said.
At least three students had major injuries. Cleland identified them as Marissa Benson of Gresham, Ore.; Alicia Catamese of Corona; and Allissa Neimeyer of Temecula, who underwent surgery.
At least four students were treated for minor injuries at a hospital and released. They were identified as Jennifer McGuire, 17, of Stevenson Ranch; Jonathan Monteon, 18, of Chino; Jonathan Hernandez, 18, of Moreno Valley, and Hanna Ingulsrud, 19, of Ontario.