Jeff Nelson is an American former long distance runner. He was a high school phenom at

Burbank High School (Burbank, California) Burbank High School is a public high school in Burbank, California. It was established in 1908 and opened on September 14, 1914, and its inaugural class had 334 students. It is a part of the Burbank Unified School District. The area had previously ...

, where he set the national high school record in the 2 mile run, the predecessor to today's 3200 meter run, at 8:36.3. He set the record before a national television audience, running in open competition at the Pepsi Invitational, May 6, 1979 at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

. The record would stand until June 20, 2008, when it was surpassed by

German Fernandez German Fernandez (born November 2, 1990) is a retired American professional runner from Riverbank, California, known for his performance in high school and collegiate cross country and track and field. Later he trained under Jerry Schumacher for ...

from

Riverbank High School Riverbank High School is located at 6200 Claus Road in Riverbank, California, and is one of the two high schools in the Riverbank Unified School District along with Adelante High School, an alternative education school. Athletics The school's ...

, who ran an 8:34.40 at the Nike Outdoor Nationals. Fernandez had run an 8:34.23 for 3200 meters three weeks earlier at the

CIF California State Meet The CIF California State Meet is the annual championship track and field meet for the California Interscholastic Federation. The meet was started in 1915 for boys and 1974 for girls. Every athlete in every high school in California has a direc ...

, which was a faster time for the slightly shorter distance. The CIF mark is the current NFHS national record at the official distance. Nelson's mark was set before the event became the 3200 meters. Converted, Fernandez' mark was equivalent to about an 8:37.5 2 mile (slightly slower than Nelson). Nelson was also on the United States team at the

1979 IAAF World Cross Country Championships The 1979 IAAF World Cross Country Championships was held in Limerick, Ireland, at the Greenpark Racecourse on 25 March 1979. A report on the event was given in the Glasgow Herald. Complete results for men, junior men, women, medallists, ...

, finishing 4th overall in the junior men's division, handily besting future star

Steve Cram Stephen Cram, (born 14 October 1960) is a British retired track and field athlete. Along with fellow Britons Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett, he was one of the world's dominant middle distance runners during the 1980s. Nicknamed "The Jarrow Arr ...

in the process. As a precursor to the record, he ran an indoor 2 mile at the

Sunkist Invitational The Los Angeles Invitational was an elite level indoor track meet, held in the Los Angeles Sports Arena in Los Angeles, California. For 25 years (1970 to 1995) the event was sponsored by the hometown Sunkist Growers, Incorporated who assumed title ...

in 8:55.1. A few weeks later, in an open race in the

Jack in the Box Jack in the Box is an American fast-food restaurant chain founded February 21, 1951, by Robert O. Peterson (1916–1994) in San Diego, California, where it is headquartered. The chain has over 2,200 locations, primarily serving the West Coast ...

Indoor Invitational in San Diego he ran an outstanding 8:42.7, which was narrowly behind

Gerry Lindgren Gerald "Gerry" Paul Lindgren (born March 9, 1946) is an American track and field runner who set many long-standing high school and national records in the United States. In 1965, Lindgren and Billy Mills both broke the world record for the six-mi ...

's all-time high school best, set indoors in 1964. He won the

twice in 1978 and 1979. He went undefeated his senior cross country season, 14 for 14 while setting 14 course records in the process, including the famed Mt. SAC course. Prior to the cross country season, Nelson was reportedly running 100 miles a week, peaking at 142, inspired by (among others) the success of local runner Mark Covert winning the Division II

NCAA Men's Cross Country Championship The NCAA Division I Men's Cross Country Championship is the cross country championship held by the National Collegiate Athletic Association each autumn for individual men's runners and cross country teams from universities in Division I. Teams a ...

.http://www.cs.uml.edu/~phoffman/nats/gods1/nelson.htm L.A. Times August 11, 1990 Valley Edition C12 After his success in high school, Nelson went to the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

on full scholarship, joining top runners

Alberto Salazar Alberto Salazar (born August 7, 1958) is an American former track coach and long-distance runner. Born in Cuba, Salazar immigrated to the United States as a child with his family, living in Connecticut and then in Wayland, Massachusetts, whe ...

Rudy Chapa Rodolfo ("Rudy") Chapa (born November 7, 1957, in Hammond, Indiana) is a retired American track and field athlete who specialized in the middle to long distance events. He set the US high school national record for the 10,000 meters when he r ...

, Art Boileau and Jim Hill. There he sustained an injury, which eventually drove him from the university. The following year he showed up healthy at

Glendale Community College (California) Glendale Community College (GCC) is a Public college, public community college in Glendale, California. History The college was founded as Glendale Junior College in 1927, to serve the Glendale Union High School District which at the time ...

, where his individual victory led his team to the State Community College Championships in Cross Country. The women's team also won in 1980, the first time a school had won both championships in the same season. But Nelson was injured again, twice. By 1982, he decided not to continue running. The entire 1980 championship team, men and women, including Nelson was inducted into the Glendale College Athletic Hall of Fame in 2006. As an individual, Nelson was inducted in 2009.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Jeff American male middle-distance runners Living people Track and field athletes from California Year of birth missing (living people) University of Oregon alumni