The head coach of the TRU Men’s Volleyball team says the two student-athletes who were injured in a crash two weeks ago remain in a serious condition in hospital.

Speaking to Radio NL, Pat Hennelly was asked about Riley Brinnen, who was taken to Vancouver General Hospital with a severe spinal cord injury, and Owen Waterhouse, who remains at Royal Inland Hospital with severe brain trauma

“Not a ton of updates available,” Hennelly said. “We are still respecting the families privacy. They have their GoFundMe pages which gives a small update.”

In a Dec. 10 update on the GoFundMe, organizer Courtney Hannigan says Riley Brinnen continues to improve and gain strength.

“This week he had a visit from Coach Pat Hennelly & four WolfPack teammates – Sam Elgert, Sam Flowerday, Corbin Ockerman, and Matthew Hamilton,” Hannigan wrote. “Nothing lifts the spirits like time with the boys.”

“Uncle Riley also had a special visit from his nephew, Thomas.”

In a Dec. 8 update, GoFundMe organizer Lynn Bogert says Owen Waterhouse remains in a critical condition and “needs all the love and positive energy you can send him and his family.”

“It is difficult to articulate how much of an impact the show of support for Owen and his family has had,” Bogert said. “There are no words adequate enough to describe how uplifting this feeling of love coming in has been – from friends & family as well as perfect strangers.”

“Our inbox has been flooded with messages of hope, prayers, personal stories of brain trauma recovery, offerings of meals and homes opened to take in the Waterhouse family while they stay in Kamloops by Owen’s side. We will never be able to thank you all enough for your generosity.”

Hennelly says a public celebration of life for Owyn McInnis – who was killed in the crash – will be held at 4 p.m. on Jan. 10 at the Tournament Capital Centre.

“We wanted to give the community at TRU – the professors and students – a chance to come out and celebrate and acknowledge Owyn,” Hennelly said. “We run tournaments, camps, and clinics as well and we want the volleyball community in Kamloops to have a chance to come out as well.”

“We didn’t want to rush it but we feel its good opportunity before the home opener for our guys to show some emotion and grieve as we go into what will be an incredibly difficult January.”

Hennelly says while the rest of the TRU volleyball team tried to stay together as much as possible in the days after the crash, most of the athletes have now gone home for the holidays.

“We kept the guys together as much as possible for team dinners and light training sessions just to make sure we’re all okay and together in a group and supported,” he said.

“We obviously cut training short so they can get home earlier. TRU has been great in terms of supporting those guys.”

Kamloops RCMP said a Dodge Ram pickup collided with several small trees in the area of McGill Road and University Drive around 3 p.m. Wednesday before it hit the Volkswagen three WolfPack athletes were in, which was stopped at red light. The RCMP’s municipal traffic unit is continuing to investigate.

“Its just over two weeks now and I’m still in shock as well as my family,” Hennelly said.

“We’re such a tight knit group. We spend an incredible amount of time together from September to April and those bonds that are formed are what makes this so painful right now.”

– With files from Larry Read