3 Wyoming swimmers killed in vehicle crash
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Three members of the University of Wyoming swimming and diving team were killed and two others injured when their sport utility vehicle veered and rolled over alongside a rural highway, bringing to at least 15 the school’s students killed in recent years on the perilous road.
The latest crash happened Thursday afternoon on U.S. 287 about 10 miles south of the Wyoming-Colorado line between Laramie, Wyo., and Fort Collins, Colo.
The crash happened when the Toyota RAV4 SUV with five people inside swerved and went off the pavement, and the vehicle rolled over multiple times.
Two people were ejected. The crash killed Charlie Clark, 19, a sophomore psychology major from Las Vegas; Luke Slabber, 21, a junior studying construction management from Cape Town, South Africa; and Carson Muir, 18, a freshman on the women’s swimming and diving team and an animal and veterinary sciences major from Birmingham, Ala., according to the university.
The two injured team members, including the driver, were released from the hospital Friday, according to a Colorado State Patrol statement that did not identify the survivors.
The driver may have been avoiding a vehicle ahead that had slowed, possibly to make a turn, according to the state patrol statement.
The accident was still being investigated. Possible causes including driving too fast, impairment and distractions were not being ruled out, the statement says.
The crash happened as others on the team competed at the Mountain West Swimming & Diving Championships in Houston.
University of Wyoming students often travel the road for shopping, socializing and entertainment in Fort Collins and Denver.
In 2001, a head-on crash with a drunken driver on the same highway killed eight members of the University of Wyoming cross country team. In 2010, a pickup truck drifted off the highway in Colorado and rolled over, killing a 19-year-old University of Wyoming football player and injuring three teammates. And in 2021, three University of Wyoming students were killed when their car slid on icy pavement and was struck by an oncoming vehicle near the scene of Thursday’s wreck.