By JERRY BYRD JR., Journal Sports
Even before C.E. Byrd High School’s record-setting distance runner Trent Wells stepped foot on campus, he was accomplishing some amazing things in track and field. For example, four years ago as an eighth grader at Youree Drive Middle School, Wells ran 1600 meters in 4:57.03, breaking the Caddo Parish record.
As a Yellow Jacket, he has made running – and winning – look easy, but in reality, there have been many obstacles for the runner and his family to overcome.
Saturday, at Bernie Moore Stadium, Wells will don the purple and gold one more time, running in both the 1600 and 3200 at the 2022 LHSAA State Track and Field Championships.
It will be Wells’ third time competing at the state meet. It would have been four had Covid not interrupted the 2020 outdoor season.
Last spring, he made the podium in both the 1600 and 3200. His 9:48.22 was good enough for second in Class 5A. His 4:18.71 earned him a bronze medal. He was the only runner in the state to make the podium in both races.
The obstacles started for the Wells family in Montgomery, Ala., when daycare workers complained about Trent. He was a troublemaker. He threw tantrums. Mr. and Mrs. Wells, who just wanted their preschool-aged son to be cared for properly, were frustrated too.
It seemed like it would be more of the same on Trent’s first day in elementary school. Due to military obligations, the family had moved to Dayton, Ohio. On Trent’s first day, Mrs. Linda Barr, their son’s first-grade teacher, called and asked Mr. Wells if Trent had ever been tested for autism, which — in education circles — is a no-no for teachers.
Edward Wells, normally a quiet, mild-mannered man, was not happy.
“If I’m being honest, initially I was a little upset because I felt it was accusatory, due to the issues we had with the caregivers in Montgomery,” he said. “I was also offended because, in my eyes, my son was perfect and he didn’t need any extra help. I was reluctant, but eventually I agreed to have him tested for autism.”
Trent’s mother, Lea, had noticed their son was not like other children. Instead of enjoying a park, Trent was fascinated with the bark on the trees. Instead of racing cars, he would take the cars and make letters or numbers out of them. Around water, he didn’t want to swim. All he wanted to do was run his arm across the top of the water and watch to see how the motion of his arm would make waves in the water.
She kept journals about Trent’s actions and his interactions with other kids. These journals, doctors said, were better tools for them than nurses’ notes.
In the days after the diagnosis, it was a very emotional, lonely time for Lea Wells — lonely in the sense that nobody seemed to listen.
“They wrote off Trent as being a boy who developed slower than girls,” she said.
In 2012, Lea deployed to Qatar. Edward Wells looked for something to keep his kids busy to keep their minds off their mother’s deployment. He found a YMCA soccer team in Dayton.
Soccer moms told him how good his daughter, Laila, was. They said nothing of his son, who could often be found in goal, laughing hysterically at the opponents’ inability to stop the team’s star player.
Encouraged by the comments from the soccer moms, Edward Wells signed up his daughter for track and field. Trent came to practices, just along for the ride.
Laila’s track coach noticed the brother, who was standing around while the team was practicing.
“Mr. Wells, why don’t you let Trent participate in practice since he is out here anyway?” the coach asked.
Initially, he declined, but reconsidered, and decided to ask Trent.
Trent said no. Then, Dad offered his son a deal.
“Trent, just run in a few practices and do one meet. After that, you don’t have to run anymore.”
Then Trent made a decision which would change the trajectory of his life. He said “yes” to running.
For most parents of star athletes, their memories of their child’s first experience in sports are happy ones. Not for Edward Wells.
He remembers the other kids whispering and laughing at Trent as he attempted the drills. They laughed at his “intensity” during runs.
Edward almost pulled his son out of track and field to protect him from the ridicule. Almost.
Nothing about Trent Wells’ first race, a 5K in Dayton on Sept. 2, 2014, gave Edward any indication that his son was headed toward school records and a full scholarship to college at Savannah College of Art & Design, but the father was impressed all the same.
Gradually, Trent began impressing his coaches, his teammates, and his opponents. In his Byrd career, he’s earned a reputation as one of the state’s best, and will leave a legacy that has its own unique slant.
Acceptance and admiration has not been uniform. Like other students with exceptionalities, Wells has heard insults and laughs of the mean and close-minded, but he has never let it get the best of him.
“It’s a super power,” Trent said of his autism. “Not a weakness.”
The Yellow Jacket with super powers will not hear insults and laughs on Saturday night in Baton Rouge, only the roar of the crowd at Bernie Moore Track Stadium, watching him compete for a state championship – or two.