Jeff Wells (born 25 May 1954[1][2]) is a marathon runner and pastor, originally from Madisonville, Texas, United States.

Running

Wells attended Rice University, majored in history, and was named an All-American four times in cross country and track.[3]

Wells finished first in the 1976 Houston Marathon,[2] the 1976 Dallas White Rock Marathon,[2] the 1977 Honolulu Marathon,[1] the 1977[2] and 1979 Nike OTC Marathons,[4] the 1980 Stockholm Marathon,[1] and the 1985 Wang New Zealand Marathon.[2]

He came in second place to Bill Rodgers, by just two seconds, in the closest Boston Marathon finish to date, at the 1978 Boston Marathon, finishing in his fastest-ever marathon time of 2:10:15.[1] Wells's time was either the third- or fourth-fastest by an American to that date, behind three runs by Rodgers, one of which was on a New York Marathon course later found to be shorter than the standard marathon length.

He finished fifth, in 2:13:16, at the 1980 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in Buffalo, New York, and fourth in the Olympic Trials 10,000-meter run in the same year.[2]

He was the top American finisher, finishing 24th overall, at the 1977 IAAF World Cross Country Championships – Senior men's race.[3]

Pastor

Wells is the founding pastor of the WoodsEdge Community Church in Spring, Texas.[5]

Achievements

Source: ARRS[2]

YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventNotes
1976 Houston Marathon Houston, Texas 1st Marathon 2:17:46
White Rock Marathon Dallas, Texas 1st Marathon 2:15:11
1977 Nike OTC Marathon Eugene, Oregon 1st Marathon 2:13:15
Honolulu Marathon Honolulu, Hawaii 1st Marathon 2:18:37
1978 Boston Marathon Boston, Massachusetts 2nd Marathon 2:10:15
1979 Nike OTC Marathon Eugene, Oregon 1st (tied) Marathon 2:10:20
1980 Stockholm Marathon Stockholm, Sweden 1st Marathon 2:15:49
1985 Wang New Zealand Marathon Auckland, New Zealand 1st Marathon 2:16:43

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Jeff Wells and the Boston Marathon". marathon-training-program.com.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "ARRS - Runner: Jeff Wells". arrs.run.
  3. 1 2 "Athlete profile for Jeff Wells - iaaf.org". iaaf.org.
  4. ↑ Moore, Kenny (September 17, 1979). "The Quick In A Dead Heat". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on 2015-10-06. Retrieved October 5, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Staff". woodsedge.org. Archived from the original on 2017-06-13. Retrieved 2015-11-18.
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