By Corinne Mannino and Corey Cusick

An SIUC track and field athlete is recovering at her parent’s home from injuries sustained when she was struck by a train Friday afternoon.

Leah N. Steele, 21, a senior in recreation from Beach Park, was seen on the tracks near the Pleasant Hill Road overpass by the crew of a northbound Illinois Central freight train about 1:50 p.m.

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The train immediately went into an emergency stop but was unable to stop before hitting her.

Steele remained under the train until it came to a complete stop. At that time she crawled out from under the second of the two engines and was assisted by the train crew until the arrival of paramedics from the Jackson County ambulance service.

Steele was taken to Memorial Hospital of Carbondale. She was reported in stable condition that night and was released Saturday. A hospital spokeswoman would not elaborate on the extent of Steele’s injuries.

The preliminary investigation from the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department indicates that Steele was attempting suicide by lying on the tracks.

“Nobody can foresee anything like this happening,” women’s track and field coach Don DeNoon said. “If I say I could see this happening, it wouldn’t have I would have stopped it.”

Steele was the team’s top pole vaulter along with being a favorite in the Missouri Valley Conference Championships later this month. Steele had accomplished jumps up to 9 feet 2.25 inches this season.

She was also a member of the women’s cross country team.

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DeNoon said Steele has overcome personal problems in the past, but he did not expect anything like this to occur.

Leah has always been a total individual, DeNoon said. Like anyone else she’s had her ups and downs.

I don’t think anyone knows what could lead a person to do something like this. It was probably out of her control.

A recent addition to the track team, junior Michelle Nitzsche had been challenging Steele for the top position in the pole vault, but DeNoon does not believe competition within the team played a factor in the incident.

There was never a threat there, DeNoon said. They had a partnership toward success.

I think Leah and Michelle have become very close in their short time together, and [Saturday] Michelle said she was going to win this one for Leah.

DeNoon spoke with Steele since the incident and said he was quite surprised with her responsiveness.

The startling part about it was, it was just a normal conversation, DeNoon said. We just talked about the incident and some other things.

DeNoon said it was very difficult for his team to compete in the McDonald’s/Saluki Invitational at the Recreation Center Saturday, the day following the incident. The team pulled themselves together though, for a second-place finish.

Some of them were closer with her than others, especially the distance runners, but they just had to work themselves through the track meet yesterday, DeNoon said.

Overcome with emotion DeNoon said he hopes Steele will work her way through the situation and return as the complete individual she was.

We enjoyed her for the way she was, and she will hopefully work her way through this and be back with us.