The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire is mourning the loss of one of its students after a fatal car accident Sunday morning.
Sarah Schmitt, 20, was traveling on Highway 33 in Columbia County when her car crossed the center line and struck a truck traveling the opposite direction, according to the accident report from the Columbia County Sherriff’s Office.
The report said officers responded to a call of an accident at 9:53 a.m. and arrived on the scene shortly after.
Schmitt was reported dead before she arrived at the hospital, the report said.
Two men from Texas, John Murphy and Gino Vaiani, were inside the truck involved in the accident and were taken to a local hospital and treated for minor injuries.
Murphy, who was driving the truck, said he saw a car coming toward him and tried to move over, but the car struck the driver side of his vehicle.
Schmitt was traveling back to her hometown in Allentown, Wis., when the accident happened, said Beth Hellwig, vice chancellor of student affairs at UW-Eau Claire.
Schmitt was in her junior year at UW-Eau Claire majoring in mathematics, and was the vice-president of the women’s club rugby team at the school, Hellwig said.
UW-Eau Claire senior Katie Kotschi, Schmitt’s rugby coach, roommate and friend, said Schmitt was always up for anything and was the perfect person to have around if you wanted to have fun.
Kotschi said Schmitt loved to play rugby, and she had been on the club team since she was a freshman.
Schmitt also loved to cook and would make up huge chicken dinners for her six roommates.
She was the type of person who would give you her shirt of her back, Kotschi added.
UW-Eau Claire senior and president of the Women’s Rugby Club Danielle Ryan said Schmitt was the heart of their team and was always the one to lift everyone’s morale.
“Even now I can’t picture her without an enormous grin on her face,” Ryan said.
Kotschi said they are working with the university to hold a candlelight vigil for Schmitt sometime next week on campus.
She said the rugby team will be playing a game this Saturday against UW-Stout’s rugby team, and they will be using the game as an opportunity to remember Schmitt.
The team will hold a moment of silence for her, a trumpet solo and have a chicken dinner, like the ones Schmitt used to make, after the game.
Kotschi added they also have embroidered her number and her nickname-“Schmitty”-on the sleeves of their jerseys.
The university is making sure the counseling center is available to students and especially members of the women’s rugby team, Hellwig said.
Hellwig said Schmitt was a beloved student on campus.
“It is hard to believe just one person in a student body of 11,000 was so valued by her colleagues and her peers as she was, and she will be missed,” Hellwig said.
