Steve Scherer...3:56.0....WTF???!?!?!?

Can he use this time to get the A standard for the trials, or does he have to have a 1500 qualifing time?

Sherer was tough in HS, running 1:52 in the open 800 and maybe a little faster in relay... Not sure what his 1600 PR was though... Ran for MSU, ran some quality indoor times, I think he broke 8:00 for 3000 and maybe a 4:03 for the mile... Not sure, HUGE breakthough

Huge talent, pretty sure he didn't start running until his junior year in high school. He did break 8 in the 3000 as early as 2002, so while this was a breakthrough he has been on the scene for a while.

MGO MOO wrote:

Sherer was tough in HS, running 1:52 in the open 800 and maybe a little faster in relay... Not sure what his 1600 PR was though... Ran for MSU, ran some quality indoor times, I think he broke 8:00 for 3000 and maybe a 4:03 for the mile... Not sure, HUGE breakthough

hole in one wrote:

His third lap was 56 or better,

i would hope so on a track that is only 300 or so meters

hole in one wrote:

You're neck must ache from shooting straight down onto the south turn. Actually, your footage is better than being there: I can actually see the entire race unobstructed for a change!

I'm glad you brought this up. I was at the track meet today. Dempsey has to be one of the worst places to watch a meet. They should have expanded the place a bit and put some stands outside of the track. Very frustrating.

Sherer was actually a tennis star at Saline High School near Ann Arbor. He did not give running serious consideration until his junior year. That makes his time of 1:52 even more remarkable. We as coaches were wondering, "Where did this young man come from with limited information on his performances? You can hear his story of being a tennis star before a running star.

Nuthin' gits by you! Yeah I meant the third 440y.

dwigt schrude wrote:

hole in one wrote:

His third lap was 56 or better,

i would hope so on a track that is only 300 or so meters

Go Spartans wrote:

Steve Sherer now joins Nathan Usher as those having break out performances from that group of MSU Spartans. It looked as if the last legacy would be Baker, Wehrman, and Jurcevich. Usher is 2:21 marathoner and ran the Trails. Steve and Nathan kept working hard to acheive that success! Congrats!

MSU runners have a history of running better after they leave the program. Going further back, there were Herb Lindsay, Doug Kurtis, Mark Mesler and others.

I saw Sherer at State meet (as a senior) years ago. He was not a XC or miler-type. He had played tennis as a frosh and soph. His team may have won the 3200m relay that day, I am not sure. Saline had Dustin Voss and one other very good runner I think.

Anyway, he dominated the 800, and won it. i thought he had run 1:50.xx as a HS senior, but I may have been thinking of two other runners we had in the Mid-Michigan area at the time (Fil Marlatt and Will Boylan-Pett). I knew he ran 7:59 and I thought he had run 3:59 for the mile, but maybe that 3:59 was tossed around from a 3:41m converted (which he DID do).

Everyone has always known he was a HUGE talent, anyone with half a brain, but I wouldn't say that he had a huge work ethic (like someone said). I don't see how you could if you could run 7:59 and be so bad at XC (this is my opinion).

He was in my store in '04 or '05 and telling one of his friends how much he "hated track and hated training." I thought he probably wouldn't ever top his 7:59i when I heard this ... shows how you can be wrong about things and people. Good luck Sherer! You have tremendous talent and I hope great things are in your future this year and for several more!

Steve did work hard and actually overtrained at times in college. He was known for adding extra work to his regiment as in running the stairs at Spartan Stadium or doing a hard strength circuit to get fitter. It was about controling and channeling that energy. He always said in interviews about wanting to keep trying to run after college. That would contradict the thought on hating track and training. He would have quit by now and gone into coaching as he desires to do in the future.

Yeah and he also thought it was a good idea to go on the atkins diet his senior year

is it just my computer or does the video not work now?

oly trials? wrote:

Can he use this time to get the A standard for the trials, or does he have to have a 1500 qualifing time?

An indoor mark may be used to qualify if achieved during the 2008 indoor season. However, the "A" standard for 1 Mile is 3:54.40 according to the USATF web site.

Not too shabby for a guy who coaches himself and trains by himself though!

its 307 meters

I saw at a bunch of races in Michigan last winter and he ran in HS with my brother, he was with Athletes in Action last year, living with Willis, trying to break 4 every chance he got. He did a trade off pacing for the UM guys and then getting paced by them and he still didn't get it. He went over to Europe and was in Webb's AR as well as being in the USATF 1500 finals. That being said, this was definitely a break through; the move to Cali probably helped.

Didn't he run for Gags/Farm Team for a year or two?

i believe that was matt scherer

Post MSU wrote:

MSU runners have a history of running better after they leave the program. Going further back, there were Herb Lindsay, Doug Kurtis, Mark Mesler and others.

Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Someone said he ran for the worst coach ever...i don't know anything about the coach. But if these runners are pr'ing after college, and still have the desire to run after college....aren't those actually two POSITIVES? Many runners don't improve after colllege, or have lost the desire to compete after college. Whatever the MSU coach did, he didn't screw him up clearly.

A 3.56 mile is a great time but lets get a bit of perspective on this. Assuming the information in this forum is correct regarding his PBs then I am not in the least bit surprised he broke 4 minutes or that he broke it by so much.

No doubt he ran possibly the best race of his life to date but I wouldn't say it was completely unexpected with the kind of talent he is based on his PBs