LENEXA, Kan. — Students, parents and members of the Catholic school community gathered Sunday evening at St. James Academy in Lenexa to pray for the victims and families affected by Saturday’s deadly accident at a Wichita sports complex.

The gathering took place inside the school’s chapel, where students and families came together to pray the rosary, offering support to those grieving and recovering from the tragedy.

The service was organized by St. James Academy students, who began making plans shortly after Saturday’s incident at the Stryker Sports Complex in Wichita.

The tragedy struck particularly close to home for St. James Academy and St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Overland Park. Students from both schools were in Wichita participating in the Kansas high school girls flag football state championship when the accident occurred on a nearby soccer field.

St. James Academy President Andy Tylicki said students from the two Catholic schools gathered beneath the bleachers following the incident and prayed the rosary together as emergency crews responded nearby.

That spontaneous moment of prayer on Saturday grew into Sunday’s larger gathering at St. James Academy, bringing students and families together in the school chapel.

The prayer service came one day after a pickup truck drove onto a soccer field during a youth game, killing two people and injuring 10 others. The victims included a 6-year-old boy and a 35-year-old man, both from McPherson, Kansas.

Sunday’s gathering focused not on the circumstances of the accident but on those affected by it — the families who lost loved ones, those recovering from injuries and the young athletes and spectators who witnessed the tragedy.

For the St. James Academy community, the evening offered an opportunity to respond to an event that had touched students from both Johnson County Catholic high schools.

St. Thomas Aquinas High School is also planning a rosary for the victims at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 19, in its school chapel at 11411 Pflumm Road in Overland Park.