Testing the Limits of the Human Spirit
Profile of Lindsey Scherf
by Tyler Goin
For most people, being an All-American in one sport would be enough, but at Harvard, being the best in one sport just isn’t good enough. Harvard running prodigy Lindsey Scherf ’08 solved that problem by achieving All-American status in all three long distance running disciplines: cross county, indoor track, and outdoor track.
Scherf has already become one of only two male or female collegiate freshmen runners to earn All-American honors in all three running sports of cross-country, indoor track and outdoor track and also earned All-American honors in track this winter after a ninth place finish in the 3000m at the national championships.
Also in indoor track, she has accumulated one first, two second, and a third place finish in her Ivy League HEPS Championship races in the 5000m and 3000m, won the ECAC Championship her freshmen year in the 5000m, and placed seventh in the National Championship as a freshmen as well. Her 15:42.81 time in the 5000m is the second fastest time ever run by an American junior runner.
In cross country, among other races Scherf placed 18th at the IAAF World Junior Championship, the second best finish by a US Junior Women since 1992 and first in the New England Championship as a freshmen.
On the outdoor track, Scherf ran 32:51.20 in the 10000m for a new American Junior Record, breaking the longest standing women’s track and field record on the books and establishing the second fastest collegiate 10000m of the 2005 season. She placed second in the Ivy League HEPS Championship in the 10000m and fourth at the National Championship, earning her All-American honors.
Scherf ’08, a Quincy House Psychology Concentrator, ambitiously seeks to redefine collegiate running. She hopes “to compete in the 2008 Olympics and break the collegiate records in both the 5000m and 10000m events, hopefully during my sophomore year.” She would also like, “to win the NCAA championship in whatever running event I compete in during my eight remaining seasons of collegiate competition and to set a new Ivy League record in every distance running event from 1500m through 10000m.”
However, despite all the accolades, winning so many races is not the best part of track for Scherf. The humble track star loves, “the camaraderie that comes as part of being a member of a team, testing the limits of the human spirit by setting lofty goals and chasing after them, and simply the act of running.” Most importantly, “Running at Harvard has been very important to me because I find myself doing a lot of things because I ‘have too’ or I am ‘supposed too’, but I run because I choose to.”
When pressed for statistics though, Scherf believes that her, “most meaningful accomplishment thus far in my college career was setting the American Junior record in the 10K last spring.”
Lindsey Scherf has loved running since infancy. “My mother always said that as soon as I could walk I was running,” Scherf says, ““I became involved in the sport of track shortly after I broke my elementary school record for both girls and boys in the mile; I ran 5:55, after which I started entering local track meets and road races.” Basically, she was just “destined to be a runner.”
The Scarsdale, NY native and Scarsdale High graduate also enjoys camping, hiking, rock climbing, environmental issues and politics. As far as long-term goals, Scherf one day hopes “to be involved in government legislation at the federal level” because of her aspiration, “ to produce changes that will enhance the lives of many people.”
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