2 Tabor athletes killed, 3rd seriously injured

Two Tabor College football players were killed and a third was seriously injured in a fiery one-vehicle accident at 3:51 a.m. Sunday south of Hillsboro on Indigo Rd.

State troopers were called in to help investigate the cause of the accident near 130th Rd., which apparently occurred while the three were en route back to Hillsboro.

Aviles

Castillo

Tabor College identified the deceased Sunday night as Chris Castillo, a senior from Tustin, California, and Johnny Aviles, a junior from Paso Robles, California.

According to Tabor's football roster, Castillo was a 5-foot-10, 225-pound linebacker who transferred to Tabor from Orange Coast College.

The roster reports him as a junior in terms of athletic eligibility and lists his hometown as San Juan Capistrano, California.

Aviles, listed as a 5-foot-10, 230-pound running back with the Bluejays, transferred to Tabor from Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria, California.

It was not immediately clear which of them was driving.

Monitored radio transmissions indicate that sheriff’s deputies at the scene attempted to get that information from paramedics treating the third player, whom Tabor identified as a passenger.

Jonathan Medina, a 5-foot-11, 170-pound freshman is listed on Tabor’s football roster as a fullback from Arlington High School in Riverside, California.

He was taken by Hillsboro ambulance to Wesley Medical Center in Wichita. His condition was not immediately available.

Monitored transmissions from the scene rated him as having possibly life-threatening injuries even though other transmissions seemed to indicate he might have been walking around.

Peabody ambulance and Hillsboro firefighters and rescue squad members also were called to the accident.

They spoke briefly of needing an infrared camera to search for other victims. That effort was called off after a second body was discovered in the burned out and crushed vehicle.

Deputies on the scene asked dispatchers to alert acting sheriff Larry Starkey, but Starkey already had been monitoring the situation and quickly reached the scene to take command. He remained on the scene — and Indigo Rd. remained closed — until after 8 a.m.

“The Tabor College community is devastated by the tragic loss of Christopher Castillo, Johnethon Aviles, and of the significant injuries sustained by Jonathan Medina,” Tabor president David Janzen said in a statement Sunday night. “We extend our prayers to the Castillo, Aviles and Medina families, asking for comfort, peace and God’s presence during this unimaginable time.”