It might not be on the minds of the 12s gearing up for training camp or the Mariner die-hards commending or cursing their team every other day. It’s probably not among the chief thoughts of those applauding Lenny Wilkens’ statue or awaiting Sue Bird’s, either.
We’re talking about a nonrevenue sport at a university 250 miles away from Seattle. Yet for former Washington State sprinting standout Ray Wells Jr., the news still stings like a loved one lost.
“I can’t find another word outside of ‘disappointing’,” Wells said. “I remember growing up if you disappointed somebody you loved or had high honor or respect for — that was a dagger.”
Earlier in the month, WSU announced that it was eliminating field events and limiting opportunities for sprints and hurdles in favor of a “distance-focused approach. A school-issued statement said that the change “gives the WSU Track and Field program the best opportunity to remain competitive at the conference and national levels in distance events in cross country, indoor track and field and outdoor track and field.”
Remember, though, the Cougars’ track and field program won an indoor track and field title in 1977 — which is one of two NCAA team championships the university has won (the other being boxing in 1937). So for Wells, the Coug who holds the school record for the 60-meter dash (6.53) and earned All-American honors in 2020, the cuts to the program cut deep.
Wells took to X to vent his frustration on June 16, saying “you always want to see your alma mater take things in the right direction and have success. Not face challenges!” Three days later, he posted that he was “still in shock” and that one of the main reasons he never transferred from Wazzu despite numerous offers was that he wanted “to represent the tradition of what it was and meant to be a Coug!”
He emphasized this later in an interview with the Times.
“I remember traveling anywhere in the city lines, and you saw that Coug logo, it was unlike anything else. People stop mid-stride and say, ‘Go Cougs,’” said Wells, the former Washington State male athlete of the year whose 60-time is the 15th fastest in NCAA history. “To see that honor stripped away … or athletes being at a disadvantage. It’s just disappointing.”
Of course, Washington State is dealing with an unforeseen financial fallout stemming from the dissolving of the Pac-12 we once knew. The television money for the remaining schools, WSU and Oregon State, is nowhere close to what it was before. These cuts to the track program weren’t made out of cruelty, but likely due to what the university and athletic department felt was necessary.
That said, Washington State athletic director Anne McCoy did not make herself available when the changes were announced on June 16, nor was she made available upon my request earlier this week.
In addition to the basic “why the cuts?” and “how many scholarships will be lost?” — I wanted to know about the specific decision to eliminate field events and scale back on sprints and hurdles.
Could someone such as former Coug Diana Pickler — a 2008 summer Olympian in the heptathlon (100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200 meters, long jump, javelin, and 800 meters) exist as a track star in Pullman today? Probably not. How about ex-Coug Gabriel Tiacoh, who won a silver medal in the 400 meters at the 1984 Olympics? Or Jeshua Anderson, a three-time NCAA champion in the 400 meter hurdles? This program has a rich history that goes beyond distance-running.
Wells — a track coach at Cleveland and Rainier Beach high schools — has said that most of the text exchanges he’s had with other Cougs regarding the cuts have been one-word answers such as “heartbreaking” or “unbelievable.”
Do you think it’s too late to do anything about all this?
“I don’t ever think it’s too late for anything,” Wells said. “There needs to be some kind of change made at Washington State because my heart as a Coug is real. I rep Washington State. I go toe-to-toe with the biggest universities. It can be a Duke basketball player and I don’t care. I go, ‘Yeah, but I’m a Cougar’.”
We’re probably not going to see a reversal anytime soon, and again, this isn’t necessarily WSU’s fault. Tough choices have to be made in tumultuous financial times. But changes in this program have been painful to those who once shined on the track and field team in Pullman. And it will prevent many from ever shining again.