Two rural Barton County women were hospitalized Wednesday evening after the cars they were driving collided at a gravel intersection near the southeast corner of the Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area.

Rebecca Oberle, 17, rural Claflin, and Elizabeth Boese, 62, rural Ellinwood, were both taken to Great Bend Regional Hospital via Ellinwood Fire Department ambulance where they were treated and released. They were both the sole occupants of their vehicles.

At about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oberle was southbound on NE 100 Avenue in a 2005 four-door Dodge Stratus and was approaching the intersection with NE 50 Road and Boese was westbound on NE 50 Road in a 2006 four-door Buick Lucerne, said a Barton County Sheriff’s Office news release. The southbound car met the westbound one at the junction.

The Oberle vehicle continued south through the intersection, coming to a sideways stop in the west ditch. The wheels of the Boese vehicle dug into the dirt and the care made one complete roll, landing upright. Both drivers were wearing their seatbelts and air bags had deployed.

According to the release, Boese was apparently driving into the sun.