The three passengers killed in the crash were members of the university's varsity wrestling team.
The three wrestlers have been identified as 20-year-old Lucas Marcelli of Massillon, 18-year-old Abraham Pishevar of Rockville, Maryland, and 18-year-old John Hill of St. Simons, Georgia. The 20-year-old pilot, William Felten of Saginaw, Michigan, also was killed.
University officials said Felten and Marcelli were second-year students, while Hill and Pishevar were freshmen.
Marcelli's father, Bryan Marcelli, said the students planned to go up, take a look around and come right back to the same airport.
University wrestling coach Mark Hawald spoke about the crash today:
"Dealing with this tragedy, it's not something youever expect to get into as a coach," Hawald said. "We're just coping and mourning and figuring how we can move on from losing three of our teammates, three of our brothers, three of our family, and we're going to move on best we can."
The Ohio State Highway Patrol says the plane that crashed was rented for four hours. The patrol spokesman says no flight plan was filed.
The plane crashed and then exploded shortly after takeoff from Cuyahoga County Regional Airport about 10 last night. The four men were trapped inside the wreckage.
