Bush Head Track Coach Ray Wells Jr. Headed to World Indoor Track Championships

 

Ray, a native of Rainier Beach in Seattle, will leave for Nanjain, China on Monday, March 17 to compete in his first Indoor World Track Championships in the men’s 60-meter dash. With a seed time of 6.55 seconds in the event, he’s set to run in the opening round on March 21 with the goal to advance to the semifinals and finals the next day. 

When he gets back from China, he’ll put his coaching hat back on and prepare for the season-opening track meet on Thursday, March 27 as the Head Varsity Coach at The Bush School. In his second year as head coach, he added the title of the Middle School track coach to his resume (they open up the season Friday, March 28). All in a day's work for Ray, who wears the hat of one of the nation's fastest coaches. 

“There’s three words I usually coach kids on: balance, discipline, and complete. And I try to maintain those everyday,” Ray said. “Whatever I do, I’m fully involved and engaged in. When I’m Coach Ray, I’m Coach Ray. When I’m athlete Ray, I’m athlete Ray. I always try to be in the moment, right now.”

For Ray, the professional athlete, the World Indoor Championships is his “now” moment. China will be the twenty-seven-year-old’s first international competition. He opened up his indoor season at the University of Washington Preview on January 17 where he clocked an indoor world qualifying time of 6.55, setting a meet record - his fastest season-opener he’s had to date and also a time that is currently tied for tenth-fastest in the U.S. Ray said he’s feeling in the best shape of his life. 

“I talk about it a lot, but this indoor season for me was significantly different than last year,” Ray said. “This year, I haven’t PR-ed but I accomplished some new features; I’ve never made a world team until now. I’ll also have the opportunity to PR in China and will be in contention to make the world team outdoors and push for the Olympics.”

Ray had never been to New York prior to the U.S. Indoor Championships last month. His trip to the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex in Staten Island he labeled a business trip. 

“The moment I got on the plane and I got off, I had one intention and that was to make the World Indoor Championship team for Team USA,” he said. “It was a good time, a lot of it felt like a blur because I was so locked in.”

Ray ran 6.58 to win his heat in the preliminaries to qualify for the final, and then finished in third place, clocking 6.58 again. But because Wells already had a world qualifying time and first-place finisher Ronnie Baker, a Tokyo Olympian, had a bye due to his 2020 World Indoor Tour placement, Ray made the team. From there, he said he immediately caught a Lyft to the hotel for processing, collecting his Team USA gear, and then was on the flight back home to Seattle that evening. 

 

“It was a surreal moment,” Ray said. “Since I started at the age of 10 to now, that’s the moment I was waiting for and to represent Team USA.”

A state champion at Rainier Beach High, a school known more for their NBA-level talents on the courts than track accolades, Ray made stops at Arizona Central Community College – earning NJCAA Indoor All-American honors – then found his way to Division I Washington State University where he set multiple records and was a 2020 NCAA Indoor All-American. Through the COVID-19 pandemic and an unfortunate  torn achilles as a fifth-year senior, Wells’ collegiate career ended abruptly in the spring of 2021, halting his dreams of the U.S. Trials and the Olympics. But Ray didn't see this as a setback in his journey, rather a different route he had to take. 

“My dad always raised me to believe that if an opportunity doesn't come knocking, build your own,” Ray said. “So I just built my own door. I was like, ‘I may not be everyone's prediction, but I'm my favorite. I may not have everyone's belief, but I believe in myself.’” 

Call Ray an underdog but never an underachiever. Wells has always carried the mindset of self-belief and faith - something instilled with him from a young age as his dad, Emmanuel Wells Sr. was a pastor. His motto is God, Loyalty, Family (GLF) a nod to his core beliefs. While recovering from his injury, he put on his business hat, honing in on creating an official brand for himself (GLF), which is an athletic training club and lifestyle-guidance program.

“I stopped focusing on the people that counted me out and started focusing on the people that counted me in,” said Ray, noting that his uncle is the one that helped make his GLF track jerseys. Ray is currently coached by three-time NFL pro bowler and national track champion Eric Metcalf, who he also credits for his success and progress.

While working the business side, and still in active recovery from his achilles, Ray started his coaching career. A big believer in leading by example, he said he found himself demonstrating the drills and mechanics of the sport to the athletes and started to get the itch to start training for his own races. Working daily with the student-athletes, Wells explained, is what keeps him accountable. 

“I wear it with a badge of honor,” Ray said of being a head coach. “I’m doing what I love, which is coaching and giving back to the youth and running. It means everything to me, because I am telling the kids what to do and I don't want to be a hypocrite. I always tell the kids, ‘Coach has done this, is doing this, or going to do this.’ Everything I'm telling you to do I'm going to do myself.”

In 2024 he started coaching at Bush. In his first year last spring, he helped guide the boys team to a seventh place in the 1A standings. The Blazers were just one point away from a top six finish. Duncan F.-S. '25 who will attend Brown this coming fall, captured the 3,200-meter state title and was second in the 1,600. In the sprints, Barack A. '25, placed third in the 100 (11.00) running a personal-best. He also finished seventh in the 200 (23.11). Teammate Xander T. '26 finished fifth in the 110 hurdles (15.46), a PR.

“We had a great year,” Ray said. “There’s always terminologies like you can be good, you can get great, you can be phenomenal. There’s words to chase, and last year I feel like it was an introduction to building the culture and standard  here at Bush.”

Wells preaches consistency, effort, and making sure the student-athletes are finding  joy in what they do. He says he doesn’t expect 100 percent all of the time, rather showing up each day and giving everything you have that day - even if you’re just feeling 60 percent, give all 60 percent. 

“Ray strikes a great balance between emphasizing effort, focus, and discipline while being a positive, supportive presence in our athletes’ lives,” Bush Athletic Director Jo Ito said. “We are fortunate to have a coach who brings the perspective of a professional athlete, inspires through his own performances, and embraces the sports culture at our school—blending both seamlessly. The track team, along with the rest of our school community, can’t wait to see how he performs at the upcoming 2025 Indoor World Indoor Track and Field Championships!”