Milligan Cycling tragedy: Hospital CEO and school confirms two team members dead

UPDATE, 1:30 p.m. EST

– Milligan University officials have posted a message on their social media account that identifies the two student athletes killed in a Wednesday morning crash that involved the Buffaloes’ cycling team.

Those team members were sophomores Haylan Engdahl of Winthrop Harbor, Illinois, and Brayden Rogers of Huntsville, Alabama.

The school statement said:
“We are profoundly shocked and saddened to share that members of our cycling team were in an accident involving a vehicle this morning while cycling in Hampton, TN.
…Multiple other Milligan cyclists were also seriously injured and are currently receiving treatment at the Johnson City Medical Center. There are no words to adequately describe this level of loss. Our prayers are with all those impacted by this tragedy. Please keep the Milligan community in your prayers.”

(IMAGES: Milligan University Athletics)

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Ballad Health CEO Alan Levine delivered news of fatalities involving Milligan University cycle team members while at a groundbreaking ceremony for the new Unicoi County Hospital.

Levine told the crowd that two of Milligan’s cyclists were killed in the Highway 19-E crash Wednesday morning while the team was riding in a pack. The executive requested prayer for the families of the victims and the Milligan community that now has to cope with the death of two more of its athletes in the past four years.

In March of 2022, Milligan sophomore and Cross Country member Eli Cramer, 20, was killed by a drunk driver during a team practice run in Williamsburg, Virginia. School athletes were there to participate in the annual Colonial Relays event.

The driver who killed Cramer, Jose Hernandez Mancia, is currently serving a 12-year sentence in a Virginia prison for his convictions on charges of hit and run and involuntary manslaughter.

Cramer, who grew up in the Murfreesboro suburb of Christiana, Tennessee, remains a record holder for Milligan’s Cross Country program and was inducted into the Milligan University Athletics Hall of Fame a year after his death.

Levine noted the other Milligan team members injured, seven total, were taken to their medical units in Johnson City for treatment with trauma team members prepared for treatment. As of 12:30 p.m. EST, the names of the victims had not been released by school officials.

HIGHWAY 19-E CLOSED FOR INVESTIGATION

– The Tennessee Highway Patrol and Carter County Sheriff’s Office remained on the scene of Wednesday’s crash on Highway 19-E in the Tiger Valley community as investigation teams reconstruct the incident.

Those operations will require that section of roadway to remain closed to traffic for safety concerns and law enforcement work. Detours have been established near the crash site.

(IMAGE: Property of Milligan University Athletics / Official YouTube)