Posted: February 14, 2006

Athletics: Homecoming For Scherf At U.S. Cross Country Championships

From David Monti

© 2006 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

Lindsey Scherf was just 11 years-old when she ran her first event organized by the New York Road Runners, founders of the ING New York City Marathon. It was the Norway Run on Oct. 12, 1997 in Manhattan's Central Park, and Scherf, from nearby Scarsdale, N.Y., ran 22:37 for 3.3 miles. It was the beginning of a beautiful relationship which has spanned more than eight years and 26 races.

Since then, Scherf, 19, has grown up with the Road Runners, way up. Still blonde, she is no longer the petite girl with the ponytail beating women twice her age. She's now a five foot, nine inch sophomore at Harvard University and, along with Caroline Bierbaum of Columbia, is the top distance runner in the Ivy League and one of the best in the U.S. collegiate ranks. She'll be testing herself by doubling in the 4-K and 8-K events at this weekend's U.S. Cross Country Championships, which the Road Runners are hosting at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, despite yesterday's two-foot dump of snow.

"I guess I've been running for almost 10 years now," said Scherf speaking to reporters on a conference call today from Cambridge, Mass. She first competed in Van Cortlandt Park on Nov. 15, 1998 in the Road Runners' Cross Country Championships which, at age 12, she won outright.

"I know the course like the back of my hand," said the self-assured Scherf. "I feel really confident about all aspects of it."

Scherf competed as a junior at last year's championships in Vancouver, Wash., finishing sixth in the 6 km junior race (she also ran the senior 4-K race and finished 22nd). Later, at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships she was the top American in the junior race, finishing 18th. Because she turns 20 this year, she's not eligible to compete as a junior anymore.

"It was a tremendous experience going out to France," Scherf explained of her first appearance at World Cross last year in St. Galmier. She was the last athlete to make the team after training solidly for only two weeks before the U.S. Championships, hampered by an illiotibial band injury.

Injuries have played a prominent role in her career, but Scherf has always come back. "I guess it's a genuine love of the sport that keeps me going now. I guess it took me until my junior year to break my age-11 time in the 5-K."

In May of 1998, Scherf ran a sensational 17:45 for 5 km on a flat, certified out-and-back road course. It remains the fastest-ever 5-K by an 11 year-old American girl and foreshadowed her already excellent collegiate career, only in its second year.

At last year's Heptagonal Championships (essentially the Ivy League championships), she battled the older Bierbaum in both the 5000m and 10,000m. Bierbaum won both events, but Scherf, only a freshman, finished second in both and set a U.S. junior record for 10,000m (32:51.20). She went on to finish fourth in the 10,000m at the NCAA Championships behind only Sara Slattery, Bierbaum and Mary Cullen of Ireland.

"I've been working hard and my times have been improving," said Scherf who hopes to make the next U.S. Olympic team.

For this weekend's championships, Scherf is focused on the 8-K which she'll run first on Saturday with the goal of a top-6 placing. That will get her on the U.S. team for the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Fukuoka, Japan in April. She'll have to contend with defending champion, Colleen De Reuck (who is more than twice Scherf's age), U.S. 10,000m champion Katie McGregor, and Olympian Laura O'Neill amongst others.

"I'm usually stronger in the longer distances," she said.

Bierbaum, who is injured, won't be racing and Scherf will miss her. "I heard that she wasn't competing," Scherf said. "I'm disappointed not to have her in the race because she's a tremendous competitor. I hope she heals up."

Yesterday's snowfall has presented a big challenge for meet director, Mary Wittenberg, the President and CEO of the Road Runners. She's working in cooperation with the New York City Parks Department to clear the snow off of the grassy flats and running trails on the 2 km loop which will be used for all the championship events, plus the wider staging area.

"We now have a Herculean effort underway at Van Cortlandt Park," said Wittenberg on the same conference call. "We're now deploying teams of Bobcats (small loaders) to delicately remove snow from the grounds." She pointed out that the snow removal was being handled in an environmentally sensitive manner to preserve the ground surfaces in the park. "The trails are delicate," she added.

Up to this point, the winter in New York City had been mild with only a small amount of snowfall.

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