HANOVER TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- One student was killed and six others were injured after a minivan carrying athletes from an Ohio college crashed into the woods off Route 22 in Washington County Tuesday afternoon.
The cross-country team from Franciscan University of Steubenville was heading back to school at about 4:40 p.m. when their van went off the road in Hanover Township, between the Post-Gazette Pavilion and the West Virginia state line.
Kelly Roggensack, a passenger, was killed. The 19-year-old Brentwood, Tenn., woman had returned to campus before the start of the school year to begin training with the team.
"She really touched the lives of those who knew her if even for a little bit," said teammate Monica Rust, who rode past the crash scene in a different vehicle.
Word spread fast at Franciscan, where only about 150 student-athletes at the small school of about 2,400 are on campus early.
"When you hear it, it's stunning. You don't really have a category for it in your head or heart," athletic director Chris Ledyard said.
Police said all six survivors suffered moderate injuries. They were identified as the driver, Rita Pedulla, 19, and passengers Michael Feuz, 20, Tawnya Zengierski, 21, Lindy Ramer, 21, Katherine Eddy, 21, and John Levri, 22.
Rust, 19, said she and the rest of the team had been running on a trail in Imperial.
"The whole team was up there. We got new shoes yesterday," she said. "We were very excited about our new shoes and went on a run, and we were just coming back. Definitely very, very unexpected."
Pennsylvania state police said the driver may have tried to avoid a tire on the road in the westbound lanes and lost control.
Rust said she will run in honor of her dead friend this season.
"It's going to be easier to fight through those really hard times, because we will do it for her," she said.
Funeral arrangements and plans for a memorial have not yet been made.
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