Ole Miss Women’s Club Lacrosse beat Arkansas 16-4 and Samford 19-6 in the 12th annual Wheat Memorial Tournament on Saturday, Feb. 22.
The Wheat Memorial Tournament, hosted by the Ole Miss Women’s Club Lacrosse team, is played every year in honor of Sarah and John Wheat, two University of Mississippi students killed by a driver under the influence in October 2012.
Sarah was the co-founder of the women’s lacrosse program at the university, and John was the head coach of the men’s lacrosse team.
John, the oldest of four children, was five weeks away from graduating with a degree in accounting and a minor in Russian. Sarah, the youngest in the family, was a first year graduate student in speech therapy.
Frances Wheat, Sarah and John’s mother, emphasized her children’s love for lacrosse and enthusiasm for life.
“They were two very joyous people. (John) did more lacrosse than studying,” Frances said. “Sarah was a pistol. She would give you the shirt off her back, just the most loving person you ever want to meet.”
The brother and sister were returning from Race for the Cure, a breast cancer awareness run and walk in Tupelo, Miss., when the accident occurred. Sarah was 23 and John was 30.
“How many college kids are getting up on a Saturday morning to go and do the Race for the Cure?” Frances said. “A lady that Sarah worked with at the daycare center passed away in September, and Sarah wanted to do something in her honor.”
The Wheats are from Maryland, a state known for its passion for lacrosse. Bill and Frances Wheat are Ole Miss alumni and introduced their children to the university through visits to Oxford.
“We went (to Ole Miss) back in the ‘70s. I came down for a reunion of my class, and they came along,” Bill said. “And after that, we started coming down for football games and things like that, and so they were kind of exposed to it and they really liked it.”
Bill and Frances now come to Oxford twice a year — once in October for the anniversary of Sarah and John’s death and once in the spring for the tournament. They always make sure to visit and take care of their children’s graves as well.
The Wheat Memorial Tournament remains deeply meaningful to both the Wheat family and Ole Miss Women’s lacrosse program.
“It touches my heart to have John and Sarah remembered,” Bill said. “When you pass away, you want someone to remember you, and John and Sarah had so much to offer and so much to give to this world, and I don’t want them to be forgotten.”
The Wheats recognize that women on the team are busy with their own lives, but still make time for the tournament.
“I think it speaks to who these girls are, their hearts, and how they were raised to have that heart for someone who came before them,” Frances said.
Anna Rae Copeland, the president of the women’s lacrosse team, is happy to honor the co-founder of the women’s program at Ole Miss.
“We wouldn’t have a program without her,” Copeland said. “So that’s the most important thing. This program wouldn’t be where it is without her.”
