ALL'S WELLS STANDOUT CSUN ATHLETE COMES INTO HER OWN ON AND OFF TRACK.

Byline: Jill Painter Staff Writer

Annetta Wells has mastered the fast start out of the blocks in track and field. The Cal State Northridge senior has won 16 conference titles in just three seasons. But when it came to her education, however, she was a slow starter.

Just two weeks before the fall semester was to begin in 1997, Wells called CSUN track coach Don Strametz for the first time. She contemplated college but never thought she would succeed in an educational environment. Yet there was something about Strametz's hand-written recruiting letters that appealed to her.

Five years and countless struggles later, Wells, 22, graduated from CSUN with a degree in sociology. Today, she'll run the 200 meters in the preliminary rounds of the NCAA Track and Field championships at Louisiana State.

``I wasn't sure I wanted to go to school,'' said Wells, whose mother lacks a formal education and whose father, who died when she was 10, didn't graduate from high school.

``No one in my family had gone (to college). I didn't have an aunt or uncle who said, 'Let's fill out these applications and go take a look at colleges.' Graduating from high school was a big deal. I knew I was going to have to prove myself.''

On the track, Wells was a proficient student. She didn't start until her sophomore year of high school and the only reason she did was because she went to a meet and figured she could beat all the girls who were running.

When Wells enrolled at CSUN, she was a Proposition 48 athlete, meaning she couldn't practice or compete and had to make the grade to stay on scholarship and compete.

She doubted she had the academic savvy to do it. So she didn't run at all that year, devoting her efforts to school. And she even earned a few A's.

``I made it,'' she said. ``I was really excited. I thought, 'Wow, I can do this!' School was my life.''

Then came instant success in the Big Sky Conference. She was a double-winner in the 200 and 400 meters in the 1999 and 2000 seasons and ran on the sprint and 1,600-meter relay teams. Then came another hurdle.

Just before her fourth year in school, Wells switched her major. It became obvious she wasn't going to graduate in four years. Track wasn't fun anymore. And she was dealing with personal issues.

CSUN sprint coach Jeff McAuley and Strametz decided to redshirt her, leaving her another year of competition on scholarship. Then Wells became increasingly hard to track down. McAuley said he would wait for her after some of her classes just to talk to her.

As the semester was near an end in May, McAuley couldn't find her. Until he drove to her mom's home in Gardena.

``I hunted her down and told her she made me a promise to get a degree,'' McAuley said. ``I wasn't going to watch her not come back. She's too talented. No one thought she was coming back. She was playing that avoid-the-coaches game.

``She was embarrassed. I told her I was here to help. She's had to go through a lot of stuff.''

Wells was forced to attend summer school to have enough classes to compete her senior year. And despite another year off from track, she dominated the Big West, winning the 200 and 400 again. She was the Big West's Athlete of the Year. She's run a personal best 23.24 seconds in the 200 and 52.97 - a school record - in the 400.

``She's very inspiring. She has incredible strength,'' said Brandon Goldstein, a thrower on the track team. ``She's a miracle woman.''

Not that turning miracles was ever easy.

She was the third of six children and first girl. When her four brothers and younger sister were outside playing, Wells was often cooking and cleaning in the South Central Los Angeles home where she grew up.

Her mother, Joyce, worked two jobs to support the family. When important papers came to the house, Wells said she explained them. Things didn't get easier when she moved to Northridge.

``It's been a full, tough (five) years for her,'' Joyce Wells said. ``For her to make it where she is, really takes some effort and a good sense of humor. She was satisfied with nothing.''

McAuley, whom Wells considers a father figure, and Wells logged plenty of miles walking the tattered grass circle around the Northridge track talking about boyfriends, family, school and track. Wells giggled and said they'd probably circled at least 500 laps crying, laughing and reminiscing.

``Annetta Wells came out this year when she realized she could graduate and her expression in workouts and track meets was like, 'I did it,' '' Strametz said. ``Because she is graduating, it's allowed her to run better because it's taken the pressure off. Sure, there was doubt about what tomorrow would bring. She can look forward to the future.''

Wells recently landed a job teaching preschool in Northridge. Her sister, Marva, 18, is scheduled to graduate from University High in Los Angeles. Marva thought about cosmetology school, but with Wells' encouragement, she will enroll in a junior college in the fall.

``I sit down and and look at other people who tried college and said, 'It was kind of hard. Forget it. I want to work,' '' Marva Wells said. ``I don't want to be like them, going to school and when things get hard, they quit.

``That's why I look at my sister. Yeah, things got a little hard, but she made it. She's there. I want to be like that. She's a star to me.''

``I've come a long way,'' Wells said. ``I never thought I'd see this day. No one could've told me this was going to happen. That I've go to college and be a great athlete. I was always personable. I figured I'd get along.

``I never thought I'd really want this degree, have career goals and have all this drive. But I did it. I made it.''

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(color) Annetta Wells of Cal State Northridge has graduated with a degree in sociology and will run the 200 meters in the preliminary rounds of the NCAA finals at LSU.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News