Memory of the Eight
Wyoming
This place in Gillette honors eight young runners who never came home. On September sixteenth, two thousand one, members of the University of Wyoming cross country team were driving back from a meet when a drunk driver struck their vehicle head on on a Wyoming highway. All eight were killed.
One of them, Morgan McLeland, was from Gillette. The other seven were athletes in the prime of their lives. Around town, eight signs were placed, each bearing the face of one runner and the names of all eight.
Every year on September sixteenth, the community gathers for the Memory of the Eight, a fun run, a five kilometer race, and an eight mile run in which each mile is dedicated to one of the fallen. It is grief turned into footsteps, year after year.
