WEIRTON, W.Va. -- It was his day off, and the Rev. Dean Borgmeyer had plans for Tuesday -- shopping, buying supplies for incoming students at Weirton Madonna High School, maybe even catching a movie.

But the day got away from him while he dithered in the rectory at St Joseph the Worker Catholic Church in Weirton Heights. He wasn't sure he wanted to fight construction-zone traffic or empty his gas tank for an unnecessary trip. He couldn't think of a film he really wanted to see.

Just before 5 p.m., his telephone rang.

A parishioner was calling from the scene of a crash a few miles away on Route 22 in Pennsylvania, where seven student-athletes from Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio had been injured. Would Father Borgmeyer come there and pray?

Father Borgmeyer sped to the wooded site a few miles away, just over the state line in Hanover, Washington County.

With somber emergency workers looking on, he gave the Sacrament of the Sick and prayed beside Kelly Roggensack, who was pronounced dead at the scene.

"I did not know her condition. I anointed her and said some personal prayers, [telling her] Jesus loved her,'' Father Borgmeyer, 57, said yesterday of the young woman he had never met. "I told Jesus was very close to her, and that he loved her very much."

Ms. Roggensack, 19, of Brentwood, Tenn., and six other members of the Franciscan cross-country team were returning to Steubenville after a practice run in Pennsylvania in a Toyota Sequoia sport-utility vehicle that rolled over and crashed at 4:50 p.m. Tuesday.

Her companions all were injured. State police said the crash occurred when the SUV driver, Rita Pedulla, swerved to avoid hitting a piece of tire that sheared off a tractor-trailer truck.

Classes do not begin at Franciscan until Tuesday, but Ms. Roggensack and her companions were among about 350 athletes and resident assistants who returned earlier this week for sports camps or training, university officials said yesterday. About 2,400 students attend the university, known for drawing highly committed Catholic students from around the country.

Word of the crash spread quickly about eight miles west to the campus because other runners and coaches passed by in other vehicles after the team's practice run along the Montour Trail. They did not see the SUV, which had veered off the busy highway, but recognized newly purchased running shoes and other items scattered on the pavement.

Nearly every student on campus attended a prayer vigil Tuesday night and a Mass yesterday morning, then spent afternoon swapping hugs, clasping hands in impromptu prayers, wiping tears and sending text-message updates about injured classmates.

"We're praying for the best, and for the future," said freshman Bill Jones, 18, of Green Bay, Wis.

"We just hope this will make us all stronger," Mr. Jones said before he and about 30 team members and coaches gathered in a circle outside Franciscan Fieldhouse to pray together for Ms. Roggensack and their absent teammates.

The crash occurred when Ms. Pedulla, 19, of Edmond, Okla., jerked her steering wheel several times, initially to avoid hitting the tire fragment and then to recover control, state police said.

Trooper Robin Mungo said Ms. Pedulla, who was traveling in the left lane, first turned the wheel left, then spun the wheel to the right.

Worried that she might be struck by a vehicle in the right lane that was coming up behind her, she swerved left again, Trooper Mungo said. A final turn to the right put the SUV over a guiderail, flipping it and sending it careering down a 50-foot embankment.

The vehicle came to a rest upright. Ms. Roggensack, who was riding in the front passenger seat and whose head hit the pavement during the rollover, was killed. All of the occupants were wearing seatbelts.

In addition to Ms. Pedulla, the injured students were: John Levri, 22, of Sarver; Michael Feuz, 20, of Mount Airy, Md.; Tawnya Zengierski, 21, of Madera, Calif.; Lindy Ramer, 21, of Piqua, Ohio; and Katherine Eddy, 21, of South Portland, Maine.

"The SUV was very top heavy. She just lost control," Trooper Mungo said. "That jerking back and forth rocked that vehicle and flipped it."

Troopers said it did not appear that Ms. Pedulla was speedingor that anyone was intoxicated. The accident remains under investigation. Ms. Pedulla and Mr. Levri remained at UPMC Presbyterian. The others were treated and released from Weirton Medical Center and returned to campus, Franciscan Athletic Director Chris Ledyard said.

"You're dealing with a significantly different demographic here," Mr. Ledyard said, noting that students at Franciscan are drawn to a community of strong faith and shared principles.

The upcoming season is just the second for the cross-country team at Franciscan, which only recently began offering athletic programs.

Ms. Roggensack, a political science and business major, also was new to competitive running, friends said.

Bubbly and jovial, Ms. Roggensack did not run in high school, but joined Franciscan's track team last year, then switched to cross country, said team co-Captain Monica Rust, 19, of Idaho.

"She was amazing, so encouraging [to other teammates],'' Ms. Rust said. "She was very easy to love. She's got an army praying for her."

Among them was Father Borgmeyer, who spoke during Masses at his own church of the death of a young stranger, the small whisper that kept him close to home, and the impact on his own faith.

"I could have been other places, but I was at the phone when I was needed. The religious person looks for signs. God does not overlook anything," he said. "Just to be there to receive the call. I appreciate those moments when I'm in the place I'm supposed to be."

Staff writer Jonathan D. Silver contributed. Cindi Lash can be reached at clash@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1973.