Pac-12 Tom Hansen Medal Winners Announced

PULLMAN, Wash. – Washington State University Athletics saw two of its best, track and field's Charisma Taylor and Emmanuel "Ray Ray" Wells Jr., receive the annual Pac-12 Tom Hansen Medal Wednesday, as announced by the conference.

A Conference Medal is awarded annually to each member institution's outstanding senior male and female student-athlete based on the exhibition of the greatest combination of performance and achievement in scholarship, athletics and leadership.

Taylor, a track and field athlete from Nassau, Bahamas graduated from Washington State with a hospitality business management degree with a grade point average of 3.47 overall. She was a 2020 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation All-Academic honoree and has earned both First Team and Second Team NCAA Indoor All-American selections. Taylor was a 2020 MPSF triple jump champion, and owns the WSU track and field indoor, outdoor, and Bahamian National records in the triple jump as well.

Charisma is the WSU program-record holder in the 60-meter hurdles also and ranks 10th all-time in program history in the long jump. She was 1-of-10 WSU students to receive Washington State University's Top Ten Senior awards. Taylor was the treasurer of the Black Student-Athlete Association, along with a board member and team representative for WSU's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.

Wells Jr., a track athlete from South Seattle, Wash. completed his degree in humanities in May of 2020, and is pursing a second degree in general studies. Wells was a 2020 First Team and 2019 Second Team NCAA Indoor All-American, along with being crowned the 2020 MPSF 60-meter dash champion. Ray Ray is currently the Washington State Track & Field 60-meter dash record holder and ranks seventh all-time in the 100-meter dash as well.

He earned the 2019 WSU Male Performance of the Year with his incredible speed on the track. During his 2019 campaign, Wells set the meet record in the 60-meter dash while running a 6.53 at the Don Kirby Elite, and that time would see him ranked second in the nation, and fifth in the world at the time also.  He has volunteered at several WSU Athletic community service events during his time in Pullman as well. 

Conference medal winners have been named every year since the 1960-61 academic year. In 2009, the Pac-12 renamed the award the Tom Hansen Conference Medal in honor of Hansen, who retired at the end of June 2009 after serving for 26 years as Commissioner of the Pac-10.