Twelve student members of Iowa State’s solar car team returned early Wednesday evening from Topeka, Kan., a day after their van and their solar car slid into the ditch.

Three students are still receiving medical care at Stormont Vail Regional Medical Center in Topeka, said Mistee Leighty, spokeswoman for the hospital.

Karla Abrahamson, a freshman in pre-engineering from White Bear Lake, Minn., was upgraded Wednesday from serious condition to fair condition and moved out of intensive care. Andrew Earhart, a sophomore in construction engineering from Kingwood, Texas, was still listed in serious condition as of press time. Brian Galvin, a sophomore in aerospace engineering from Galva, was upgraded Wednesday from fair to satisfactory condition. Galvin is expected to be released from the hospital today.

After two planes carrying the students came to a stop in a university-owned hangar at the Ames Municipal Airport Wednesday at about 5:30 p.m., Houston Dougharty, associate dean of students, opened the door for each, welcoming the students back on a wet, snowy day.

One plane was chartered through Hap’s Air Service. It carried five students and faculty adviser Jim Hill. The other was an ISU-owned plane. It carried the remaining seven students and Tom Ligouri, director of external affairs for the College of Engineering.

Some students greeted family while others stepped into an ISU van, which gave them a ride to campus.

Hill, a professor of chemical engineering, spoke to members of the media. He thanked members of the ISU community for their concern and support. He said team members appreciated the work done by the Kansas State Highway Patrol, the staff of Stormont Vail, the University of Kansas and Kansas resident Mike Garrison.

Garrison, a resident of Topeka, heard the news about the accident and volunteered to bring the damaged solar car back in his enclosed trailer.

“The first time I saw the students in the hospital, they asked how their teammates were doing, and then how was the car,” Hill said.

The students were taken to speak with Gene Deisinger, assistant director of Student Counseling Services, at the Student Services Building.

The accident took place about 5 miles south of Topeka on the Kansas Turnpike at 8 a.m. Tuesday.

A trailer carrying the solar car started swerving, then jackknifed, causing the students’ van to go into the ditch. The van went through a fence and slid on its left side into a tree.

Hill said the solar car — ExCYtor — will be loaded on the Garrison’s trailer sometime today and is expected to be back in Ames by next week “depending on various arrangements.”

He said Team PrISUm still might compete in Sunrayce ’97 since the majority of the damage to the car was to its fiberglass shell. “I’m sure the car can be rebuilt,” Hill said.

The team was returning from Mesa, Ariz., where it failed to qualify for Sunrayce ’97, a biennial solar car race with college and university teams from across the country. Suspension problems hindered the team. “We needed a couple more spare parts,” Hill said.

“We didn’t qualify but we learned a lot about our car,” said team member Olivia Truckenmiller, a sophomore in pre-aerospace engineering.

Truckenmiller added that team members will soon begin repairing the solar car.

Team PrISUm could still make the field if members can get the car fixed up in time for another qualifying round in early June. Sunrayce ’97, a 1,200-mile race, begins in Indianapolis on June 12. The race ends in Colorado Springs.

Three Team PrISUm members stayed in Topeka with the hospitalized students.

“Our thoughts are with our friends who are hospitalized in Topeka,” Hill said.