Temple gymnasts: 'Tears of joy' leaving snowy Pa. Turnpike

Buses carrying the Temple University women's gymnastics team and the Duquesne University men's basketball team were among more than 500 vehicles stranded Saturday for more than 24 hours in a blizzard and deep snows along a 40-mile stretch of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

Exhausted but safe, the gymnasts tweeted at 8:40 p.m. that they were finally moving to freedom. "Tears of joy," they tweeted with a video of a rousing celebration. The Duquesne team had rolled out about 10 minutes earlier.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission said it was not likely those caught in a construction bottleneck and snowdrifts would spend a second night on the stretch between Bedford and Somerset, about 80 miles east of Pittsburgh. One by one, the vehicles were slowly being turned around and directed out of the mess. By 6:30 p.m., heavy equipment arrived to begin removing concrete barriers hemming them in.

Sixteen of the Temple athletes, three coaches, their athletic trainer, and a bus driver were marooned near Bedford at 6 p.m. Friday as they headed for a Saturday night gym meet at the University of Pittsburgh. An accident up ahead when just three inches of snow had fallen brought traffic to a frozen halt.

Head coach Umme Salim-Beasley said the bus was warm and those aboard had healthy snacks.

"Thankfully, we have a bus with a bathroom," she said.

The Temple athletes passed time playing the card game Uno and watching movies.

"Disney movies to the rescue," the team tweeted.

Renee Colborn, Turnpike Commission spokeswoman, said getting to the vehicles was complicated because many were trapped in a "cattle chute" of construction zone barriers.

"There's nowhere for the traffic to go," Colborn said. "It's very tricky. You have all these vehicles trapped in that area and trying to get to them is difficult because of the constraints."

Some motorists painted a dire picture Saturday evening.

Mark Kaltenbach, an attorney who lives in South Philadelphia, said motorists trapped with him near Somerset had received virtually no help from authorities.

"We have not moved an inch since 9 p.m. Friday," Kaltenbach said shortly before 5 p.m. Saturday.

Apart from a State Police officer who had handed him half a turkey sandwich, he said stranded drivers had seen no officials or spotted any National Guardsmen.

He said he spent Friday night huddled in the front seat of his sedan wrapped in his coat, peering through the windshield in vain for signs of help.

He said that State Police and authorities in humvees had arrived by 6:30 p.m. to deliver military-style ready-to-eat meals and that cranes were brought in to remove the Jersey barriers.

Later, he said, a Guardsman told him Gov. Wolf had ordered that everyone leave his or her vehicles with keys inside and board Department of Corrections buses to leave the Turnpike.

Wolf's spokesman said the governor directed that no motorist should be left stranded overnight if it were unsafe.

Kaltenbach said people were letting one another recharge cellphones and sharing food. One trucker served hot chili he made in his cab.

"People are hungry. We're running out of gas, and people are scared," Kaltenbach said as night fell.

To get ahead of the storm, the Temple gymnasts left Philadelphia at 2 p.m. Friday, for the quad match at the University of Pittsburgh.

"When we left Philadelphia there was no snow at all, and we had been checking the weather patterns," Salim-Beasley said.

Heavy snow throughout the night and day left piled halfway up the tires of the neighboring stalled tractor-trailers.

"We have not seen a snowplow at all," the Temple coach said.

Firefighters checked on drivers at 2 and 6 a.m., and brought a case of bottled water for the team.

The gymnasts tried to make the best of the situation.

Team member Danielle Vahala, a senior kinesiology major, said most of the girls tried to catch up on some well-needed sleep or homework.

"I'm a little worried about how we're getting out of this situation," she said.

Bre Wiczkowski, a freshman social-work major, said there's a general sense of exhaustion on board. She said she forgot a blanket and is using the team banner as a cover instead.

"At first we expected a small delay and as time went on, it got a little more frustrating," she said.

Vahala and Wiczkowski said they were both able to contact their families, though their phones were dying with no place to recharge them. Wiczkowski also said that it's comforting to know that there are people on the outside concerned about their safety.

"I just hope everyone else out there is safe," she said.

Salim-Beasley said that once the bus gets moving again, the team would head for the nearest exit to find a hotel.

She hoped the team would be back in Philadelphia on Sunday.

Given the poor conditions in the Washington area Friday, the women's gymnastics team from George Washington University canceled out of the quad meet Friday. The team from the University of New Hampshire was able to fly into Pittsburgh.

Those stuck with the Owls in the backup included the men's basketball team from Duquesne in Pittsburgh, which was heading home from a victory at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., and six busloads of high school students from Omaha, Neb., who were heading home from the March for Life in Washington.

martha.woodall@phillynews.com

215-854-2789

@marwooda

Staff writer Tricia L. Nadolny contributed to this article.