University of Wyoming swimmers killed in car crash in Colorado

Three University of Wyoming swimmers were killed in a single-vehicle crash on a Colorado highway Thursday afternoon, while two team members were injured in the tragedy.

The names of the students have not been released, but they were an 18-year-old woman and two men, ages 21 and 22, according to the Coloradoan, citing state police.

They had been driving southbound on US Highway 287 — 10 miles from the Wyoming-Colorado border and about 25 miles north of Fort Collins, Colo. — around 2:44 p.m. before the driver swerved off the road and rolled the vehicle multiple times, the university said.

Two student-athletes were ejected from the car, the outlet added.

Two other members of Wyoming’s swimming and diving team, ages 20 and 21, suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

Head coach Dave Denniston told SwimSwam that his team is “devastated” while UW President Ed Seidel was “heartsick” over the deadly crash.

“We are heartsick at the news of this terrible tragedy for our university, our state, our student-athlete community and, most importantly, the families and friends of these young people,” Seidel said in a statement. “Words are insufficient to express our sadness.”

Colorado State Police is investigating the crash, the Coloradoan reported.

The women’s swim team is in the Mountain West Championships in Houston, Texas, where they set a school record in the 800 freestyle relay on Feb. 21.

“My thoughts and prayers are with our swimming and diving student-athletes, coaches, families and friends,” UW Director of Athletics Tom Burman says. “It is difficult to lose members of our University of Wyoming family, and we mourn the loss of these student-athletes. We have counseling services available to our student-athletes and coaches in our time of need.”

In Sept. 2001, eight Wyoming cross-country and track runners were killed in a head-on wreck involving their SUV and a pick-up truck on the same highway where Thursday’s fatal crash occurred. 

The group was returning from team bonding activities in nearby Fort Collins when a drunken Wyoming student Clinton Haskins, crossed the dividing line and crashed into the team’s Jeep, according to the Denver Post.

Haskins, then 21 years old, was charged with aggravated vehicular homicide in the students’ deaths.

After serving 10 years in jail, he was ordered to pay $81,000 in restitution to the runners’ families before he was paroled in 2011.