Matt Scherer of the Brooks Beasts tweets his retirement as top middle distance pacer...

Matt Scherer (far left) runs with Brooks Beasts teammates
Angela Bizzarri & Katie Mackey during a January
training session at Seattle's Green Lake (Paul Merca photo)
The tweet said it all:


And with that tweet, Matt Scherer of the Seattle-based Brooks Beasts announced his retirement as one of the sport's top middle distance pacers.

Scherer, who ran collegiately at the University of Oregon, where he was a nine-time All-American, and the Pac-10 champion in the 400 in 2006, began pacing full-time in 2011, with many of the sport's top meet directors putting him in their fields in the 800, 1500 and mile runs to ensure fast times in their races.

As a professional, he was part of the Oregon TC Elite's distance medley relay team that set a world best of 9:17.77 at the Dempsey Indoor in 2010, and placed third in the 800 indoors at the 2009 USA indoor championships.  

Scherer competed in the 2008 US Olympic Trials in the 800, where he advanced to the semi-finals.


Among the other top middle distance talents he's paced include Norway's Henrik Ingebrigtsen, Kenya's David Rudisha, and Mohammed Aman of Ethiopia.


Kitum, the 2012 Olympic bronze medalist and the silver medalist at the IAAF world junior championships in 2012, ran 1:43.65 for the victory.

Scherer moved to the Puget Sound area from Eugene at the end of September 2012 and began training with former Oregon TC Elite teammate Mark Wieczorek, who also coaches at Gig Harbor HS.  Both were added to the Brooks Beasts squad in 2013.

Comments

Unknown said…
For several years now, and more races than I can count (although Matt obviously did), you knew you were watching a world class event because Matt Scherer was setting the early pace. Not sure there has ever been a pacing specialist who consistently did a world class job, no matter who was behind him. He will be missed.
Mercanator said…
Scott, thanks for the comment. I'm sure Matt will appreciate your kind words greatly.

Hoping to connect with Matt soon...