Wells excited to be heading to Florida

Regarding the move to Gainesville, Florida, the home of the Gators, Bahamian Sasha Wells said she’s excited for the opportunity to end her collegiate career at a top notch National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I program.

Wells is currently in her senior year at Oral Roberts University (ORU) where she has had a stellar career and was one of the top Bahamian collegiate athletes during her time at ORU. In 2019, she won the national collegiate female athlete and collegiate female track athlete of the year awards, and was also named as the recipient of both awards by the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations (BAAA).

The 21-year-old had a breakout sophomore season for the ORU Golden Eagles in 2019 and continued that success into her junior year in 2020.

“I’m really excited for next school year and what the future holds for me. I think it will be a good change of pace there,” said Wells of the move to Gainesville. “I knew that I wanted to use my extra year of eligibility to go to grad school so I had a list of schools that I was looking at and the University of Florida was on my list. I reached out to those schools, and when Florida got back to me, I really enjoyed talking to the coaches there and decided that’s where I wanted to go. I fell in love with the program, academically and athletically.”

The Gators have produced 10 national titles – nine for the men and one indoor national title for the women. Additionally, they have won 28 conference titles – 14 each for the men and women. The Gators compete in a very tough Southeastern Conference (SEC) of NCAA Division I athletics.

“The energy I got from the coaches and the information I got about the program really spurred my decision to go there,” said Wells. “ORU doesn’t have the grad program that I wanted so I had to look elsewhere and I’m certain that my decision to go to Florida will pay off.”

Wells is set to join fellow Bahamian Doneisha Anderson as a member of the Florida Gators in 2021. Anderson, who was a teammate of Wells at the CARIFTA Games from 2014-2018, will be entering her senior year in 2021 while Wells will be a redshirt senior in her first year of grad school.

In 2019, Wells won seven All-Summit League honors including five event titles, while making an NCAA West Region Preliminary appearance in the 100 meters (m) hurdles.

Wells earned the Summit League Track Championship Most Valuable Performance indoors, winning individual titles in the 60m dash and 60m hurdles while finishing third in the 200m. Outdoors, she claimed the Summit League Track Championship Most Valuable Performance award, winning the 100m, 100m hurdles and was a part of the winning 4x100m squad, while finishing second in the 200m.

Wells capped off her 2019 collegiate season with an NCAA West Region appearance in the 100m hurdles clocking 13.39 seconds in the preliminaries and 13.59 seconds in the semifinals, finishing 19th overall.

COVID-19 swooped in this past year, forcing the cancellation of both the indoor and outdoor division one national championships. In fact, the entire outdoor season was washed away.

Wells competed in the 60m, 60m hurdles, 200m and relays indoors for ORU, and the 100m, 100m hurdles, 200m, and relays outdoors. She holds school records in the 60m hurdles indoors (8.30 seconds) and 100m hurdles outdoors (13.39 seconds).

Wells has personal best times of 7.50 seconds in the 60m, 8.30 seconds in the 60m hurdles and 24.69 seconds in the 200m indoors, and 11.83 seconds in the 100m, 13.39 seconds in the 100m hurdles and 24.48 seconds in the 200m outdoors.

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