Jeffrey Patrick Atkinson (born February 24, 1963) is a male former middle-distance runner from theUnited States. He has held the outdoor mile record atStanford University since 1986.[3] He was the fastest American male in the 1500 metres in 1989.[1] He competed at theSummer Olympics in1988 in Seoul, South Korea, and came in tenth place in the 1500m race. He tried to make a comeback at the1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, but did not pass the Olympic trials.
Atkinson currently[when?] holds coaching positions in bothcross country andtrack and field atSan Pedro High School inSan Pedro, California. At Mira Costa, Atkinson worked with the head coach of cross country, Roberto Calderon, starting in 2015. Along with fellow head coach Brian Shapiro, he coached both the boys' and girls' cross country program at Palos Verdes to much success in 2007, when both varsity teams competed in both the Division III CIF Southern Section Finals and State Championships. The boys have since won a CIF-SS title and a CIF State Championship titles in 2009 and 2011 (setting record team times for Division III) and gone on to compete at theNike Cross Nationals in 2009. The girls also won a Southern Section title in 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2014 and CIF State Championship title in 2011 and 2014[4] under Atkinson.
*Distances have varied as follows: Mile (1940–2002) and 1932, 2007 and odd numbered years since 2011, 1500 meters (1933–1939), (2003–6, 2008–2010) and even numbered years since 2010
