KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. — Oregon Institute of Technology’s President says tonight the varsity’s cross nation group members have been handled and launched from medical care in Florida right this moment. Dr. Nagi Naganathan says Oregon Tech (OIT) seems to be ahead to the group’s return.
The group members and coach have been reportedly amongst 10 individuals damage in a multi-vehicle crash involving the Oregon Tech athletes. The group was in Florida for a NAIA cross nation championship meet in Tallahassee.
Officials with the varsity say the group was on its method again from nationwide championships when the accident occurred.
Dr. Naganathan issued a letter to the OIT group saying:
“Dear Oregon Tech Campus Community,
On November 18, the Owls Men’s Cross Country Team and one female cross-country student-athlete were involved in a crash near Gainesville, Florida, while the team van was traveling back from the national championship meet in Tallahassee, Florida. Four different local hospitals received and cared for the injured.
As of Friday evening, the Oregon Tech student-athletes injured in the crash were treated and released.
Dr. Erin Foley, Athletic Director John Van Dyke, and Cross-Country Coach Mike Anderson are working diligently to arrange hotel rooms, air travel, and other logistics for our student-athletes to return home, and we look forward to welcoming them back to Klamath Falls in the very near future. Please also join me in thanking those persons on the scene who provided aid and comfort to our fellow Owls.
Should there be any further developments we will share them with you. Thank you all for your care and concern during these hours of uncertainty.
Sincerely,
Nagi G. Naganathan, Ph.D., ASME Fellow
President”
Oregon Tech posted a Facebook assertion saying “A van carrying members of the Oregon Tech cross-country team was involved in a serious accident in Gainesville. The team was on its way back from the NAIA National Championships. We ask that you provide emotional support to our student-athletes, the coaching staff, and their families during this difficult time.”
Florida Highway Patrol troopers blocked visitors going north and south after a crash close to mile marker 374 involving a semi-truck, vehicles, and The Oregon Tech’s Team van.
The Oregon Tech males’s cross nation group and one OIT girls’s cross nation runner have been competing on the NAIA National Championships. The Owls males’s group earned one in every of 14 at-large bids to the championships, their first time being held in Tallahassee.
Senior Kira Morrow was listed to be on the journey, representing the Lady Owls within the girls’s race as one in every of 73 particular person runners chosen to compete. She is from Klamath Falls and attended Henley High School.
Sophomore Noah Marshall of Phoenix, Oregon, is a member of the group with senior Nick McMillen who final month turned the fifth Hustlin’ Owl to interrupt the 25-minute mark over an 8,000-meter distance together with his time of 24:56. McMillen is a senior from Reno, Nevada. Other OIT 2022 men’s track team members embrace:
Maxwell Cox, a junior from Rancho Santa, Margarita, California
Jonas Hartline, a senior from Lake Forest, California
Thomas Long, a sophomore from Barstow, California
Tychon Preston, a sophomore from Snoqualmie, Washington
Toby Ruston, a sophomore from Dallas, Oregon
Joseph Wilkinson, a senior from Neskowin, Oregon
OIT’s cross nation Interim Head Coach is Mike Anderson
Other Cascade Conference groups who went to race right this moment at Apalachee Regional Park embrace Southern Oregon University. Last season, the Tech males positioned twelfth general on the NAIA Championships, and it was ranked within the prime 20 nationally this season.
