The Milligan University cycling community is grieving the loss of two of its own after Wednesday 19 August’s fatal collision on US Highway 19E near Hampton, Tennessee. Sophomores Haylan Engdahl and Brayden Rogers, both members of the Buffaloes’ cycling program, were confirmed dead at the scene, the university said.
Engdahl, 18, came to Milligan from Winthrop Harbor, Illinois, and Christian Life School, joining the roster ahead of the 2025-26 season. An exercise science major, he competed primarily as a road racer. His amateur results included an overall win at the Carter County Omnium and reaching the podium at a stage of the Tour of America’s Dairyland, both earlier in 2025, as well finishing 22nd overall at Arizona’s Valley of the Sun stage race in the Cat 2 field last February.
Rogers, of New Market, Alabama, was a nursing student who took up competitive cycling through friends after first getting on a bike at age 11. Racing across mountain, road and gravel disciplines, his palmares included a top-20 result in the U20 category at the UNBOUND Gravel 100-mile race and a 17th place overall from a field of over 700 at the 2025 Life Time Big Sugar 50-mile gravel event, crossing the line in 02:36:25.
Milligan University consistently fields one of the top collegiate cycling teams in the country. At the 2026 USA Cycling Collegiate Road National Championships, held last May in Madison, Wisconsin, the Milligan cycling team captured the Men’s Varsity Team Time Trial national title and finished third overall in the Varsity Team Omnium with 369 points. The team was scheduled to begin its 2026-27 season on Thursday 20 August at the Rock Hill Velodrome in South Carolina.
Both riders had signed with Milligan within the past year, joining a young roster that the program was training for the 2026-27 season.
Photo Credit: Milligan University
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