The Ole Miss lacrosse team is hosting a tournament Saturday in memory of Sarah and John Wheat, who were killed in a car accident last October.
The lacrosse team is hosting a tournament called “The Wheat Memorial Game” on Saturday in memory of Sarah and John Wheat. The two students were killed in a head-on collision on Oct. 27, 2012.
Sarah, 24, and her brother, John, 30, were members of the lacrosse teams on campus during their time at Ole Miss.
“Sarah was the women’s goalie and John was a former player,” said Rachel Zurheide, the women’s lacrosse president.
Matt Raines, president of the men’s team, said he wants the players to learn from the tournament.
“I want the players to appreciate John and Sarah’s contributions to this program and, more importantly, recognize how great they were,” Raines said.
Like the Wheats, Raines is also from Maryland.
“The Wheats family had a huge role in my decision to come to Ole Miss,“ Raines said.
“John and Sarah were instrumental in building both the men’s and women’s lacrosse programs, so both teams’ success can be attributed to them.”
Raines said he wants those who aren’t familiar with lacrosse to enjoy watching the sport that John and Sarah Wheat cared about so much.
Patrick Aiello, the men’s lacrosse coach, hopes the players take something from the game.
”My expectations for the game is first and foremost that Sarah and John will be on all the players’ minds, and it will be emotional, but our team is really excited,” Aiello said.
Freshman journalism major Taylor Cos thinks the tournament will help the healing process.
“We’ve already learned so much from this loss,” Cos said. “We’ve grown closer as a team, as a family, and I think this tournament will give all of us a bit of closure.”
Both the women’s and men’s teams will begin play in the tournament against Georgia Tech, and the women’s team will play a second game against Florida.
The women’s games begin at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. at the women’s soccer field. The men’s game will begin at 1 p.m. at the intramural fields.
“We would like to let the public know that lacrosse is a great sport,” Aiello said.
“Anyone is always allowed to come to our practices on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.”
According to the memorial game’s Facebook event page, there will be a moment of silence for the Wheats at 9:40 a.m. before the women’s first game.
Courtesy Hillary Puckett
Sarah and John Wheat
