SPORTS REPORT

Long before she became one of the best volleyball players ever to play for Texas Wesleyan University, Rachel Loftin Whaley knew what she wanted her future to be. And, like volleyball, it involves exact maneuvering and adjustments.

Whaley is now a chiropractor and owner of the Chiropractic Wellness Cafe in Crowley. She holds the program record for career kills with 1,781 in her four seasons, including third and fourth all-time in a single season (536 in 2004 and 533 in 2003).

After graduating from Texas Wesleyan with an exercise science degree she went to Parker College of Chiropractic (now Parker University) and got another bachelor’s degree in anatomy and physiology, a bachelor’s in health science, a minor in chemistry and a doctorate of chiropractic license.

Her husband, Aaron Whaley ’03, runs the Morton Fitness Center at Texas Wesleyan. He played basketball for the Rams from 2000 to 2003 and is a former junior varsity and assistant coach for the school. “It makes for some friendly competitive moments at home,” she said with a chuckle.

She and Aaron have three children, son Addox,10, and daughters Everly, 7, and Oakley, 5.

“Addox enjoys playing flag football, guitar, Fortnite and Minecraft, and is definitely the jokester and silly one in the family. Everly is our uber competitive one and is a natural athlete who is pretty much good at anything you throw at her. Right now she loves basketball and piano, but is also playing soccer and wants to learn tennis. Oakley is our sweetie pie and people pleaser and is super cuddly and definitely the peacemaker between the three kids. She is just now getting into sports and has started playing soccer the past couple of weeks.

“Two of my kids want to grow up and work in my office alongside me, enjoying the chiropractic profession, while Everly wants to be an artist. I really hope that they continue to have a desire to be chiropractors and we can work alongside each other one of these days – that would be so cool and fulfilling to me.”

And no matter where life takes her from here, she will always take her memories from TXWES with her, she said.

“When I look back on my college years, what I remember loving the best was playing with my T-dub girls. Most of my favorite memories revolve

around volleyball and inside jokes or things that happened on the court,” she said of her teams that reached the NAIA tournament and finished fifth in the nation two straight years.

“We were not the tallest team, therefore we had to use our speed to advance as far as we did. Our slogan that year was ‘speed kills’ and ‘git r done’ – and under the coaching of Rick Johansen we did just that.”

She said playing for the Lady Rams continues to help her with her career success today. They played a stringent schedule, would practice three hours a day, worked with a personal trainer two or three days each week, and had a stringent weightlifting regimen – oh, and they had a normal class load of 12 to 15 hours.

“This developed a very strong work ethic that definitely stayed with me in chiropractic school and helped me prioritize and focus on what needed to be done,” she said. “I’ve always had a desire to do the best and be the best I can, regardless of whether that’s in school or on the court or in my chiropractic practice, so it definitely helped me stay focused being able to balance the heavy load we had.”

The team was, in fact, so close that for a few years after they graduated the majority of the team joined a competitive women’s league and would play a couple of times a week, or in random tournaments.

“Then more of us started having babies and growing our families so that became more and more difficult,” she said.

In a case of like mother, like son, Whaley was taken back in her memory recently.

“What is even funnier is that last year when my son was 9 … after popping his fingers and toes he looked at me and seriously asked ‘Mom, why is that so satisfying?’ I simply told him, ‘It’s in your DNA, bud.’”

The men’s and women’s tennis teams are the first Ram athletics program to achieve a 100% COVID-19 vaccination rate. All 20 athletes that make up the men’s and women’s tennis teams voluntarily received the vaccine. Additionally, the coaching staff is also fully vaccinated.

“We have great leadership among the tennis programs at Texas Wesleyan,” head coach Angel Martinez said. “Most of the athletes went together to get the vaccine. As a result, our team is 100% vaccinated. After a season with many challenges, I’m extremely proud of my athletes and how they continue to be leaders on the court and in the classroom.”

Junior men’s basketball player Peyton Sallee has joined the 1,000-point club this season and has a chance to be on the top five all-time scoring list. He also broke the career 3-pointers made record this season and owns the single game 3-pointers made record with 11 (set in 2005 by Ben Hunt).

Texas Wesleyan University Athletic Director Ricky Dotson has announced the hiring of Randy Dalzell as head coach of the men’s and women’s cross country and track and field programs. Dalzell is a highly decorated coach, winning multiple national championships and numerous coach of the year awards prior to Texas Wesleyan. Dalzell has coached over 190 AllAmericans, 40 NAIA Scholar-Athletes, and 27 national champions.