TENNESSEE TRACK AND FIELD ATHLETE KILLED WHILE RUNNING BY DRUNK DRIVER

An athlete from a Tennessee university was killed Thursday when he and two other members of his team were struck by a car while running along a road in Virginia, state police said.

Members of the Milligan University men’s cross-country and track and field teams were running on a road in Williamsburg about 6 p.m. when three of them were hit, Virginia State Police said in a news release.

Five people were taken to Williamsburg Sentara Hospital, where sophomore Eli Cramer, 20, died and two others were seriously injured, police said.

Four team members and a coach were running together Thursday when the crash happened, Milligan spokeswoman Chandrea Shell said. The university said in a statement that seniors Alex Mortimer and Eli Baldy also were injured. Baldy was treated and released.  Cramer, a business administration major from Murfreesboro, was the third finisher on the 2021 national championship cross-country team, a two-time All-American and two-time All-AAC for cross-country, the university said. In track and field, Cramer was a four-time national qualifier.