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For the last 20 years, Doug
Wells has served at the Director of the
Cerritos College track and field program to
go along with serving on the men’s and
women’s cross country staff, a position he
has held for the last 10 years. As a track
coach, he has helped lead the women’s track
and field to two straight state
championships and three in the last four
years. In addition, the men’s team finished
in a tie for second place at this year’s
state championship. He has helped celebrate
the championships with women’s head track
coach Michael Allen, as the team also won
the Southern California Championship three
of the last four years, as well South Coast
Conference championships the same amount of
times. One of the best recruiting tools for
the track and field program is the advanced
surface that is considered to be one of the
best in the country. Acquiring the surface
was the main goal that Wells had been
working on for years. Along with the success
of the women’s program and the new surface,
the men’s team program is also very strong
and a force at the state championships each
year.
Both the men’s and women’s cross country
teams this season will strong this season,
as the women look to improve on their fifth
place finish at the state championships last
year, while the men finished 11th
last season. After the women’s track team
won the state championship in 2006, Wells
was chosen to
serve as the Head Manager for the U.S.
National Track and Field Team and guided
them at the NACAC Under-23 Team, which was
held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
He was selected by a special staff selection
meeting of the International Competition
Committee at the USA Track and Field
National Convention.
Wells spent 10 years as a Falcon
assistant football coach, until retiring
from the gridiron. Wells has had a great
deal of success as a track and field coach,
especially at Taft College. In 10 years at
Taft, he guided his teams to a state
championship and seven conference titles,
while Wells was named the California Coach
of the Year twice. At Cerritos, he was named
the California Coaches Association Coach of
the Year for the third time in his career,
while he was awarded the Coach of the Year
honor by the California Track and Running
News five times.
Wells attended Porterville Union High
School, where he was a football and track
star. He transferred to the University of
Utah, where he competed in the NCAA
Championships and was an All-American as a
decathlete in 1970, while also playing
fullback on the football team. Wells
continued to compete in track events and won
several shot put and discus National
Championships in Master’s competition. Wells
earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in
Physical Education from the University of
Utah.
Wells and his wife Darlene reside in Carson
and have five children – Ron, Rene, Cherri,
Gordon and Jason, along with six
grandchildren. His youngest son, Jason, was
an All-Big West selection in football in
1992 and his eldest grandson, Ian Crichton,
competed on the Falcon track team for two
seasons. In both years, he placed in the
state championships in the javelin. |
