Cumberland’s Sherrer finishes career with top-10 finish in fast NCAA 800!!!

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Cumberland Regional graduate Holland Sherrer, in red in the middle, placed 10th in the 800 at the NCAA Championships. He’s shown here advancing at NCAA prelims last weekend.

Holland Sherrer never broke 1:54 during his high school career at Cumberland Regional, but he finished his college career this weekend in style — with a near-PR sub-1:48 performance for 800 meters at the NCAA Championships at Hayward Field.

Sherrer’s high school PR was 1:54.12, when he was third in the state Group 4 race in the spring of 2011. He finished behind Bradley Paternoster of Ramapo [1:51.05] and Steve Butenewicz of Delsea [1:53.49] but then inexplicably didn’t compete in the 800 at the Meet of Champs, instead running only a leg on a 400-meter relay team that was DQ’d.

Sherrer, cousin of the famous Vineland Sherrer twins, wound up at Rend Lake Community College in Ina, Ill., where he was a multiple All-America, lowered his PR to 1:52.35 and ran on two JUCO national-champion 3,200-meter relay teams.

Sherrer, who grew up in Deerfield Township, moved on to Mississippi, where he enjoyed a huge breakthrough in the spring of 2014, running 1:48.95. He lowered that to 1:47.74 last year, when he advanced to NCAAs and placed 24th.

This year, he finished his college career in impressive fashion.

Sherrer lowered his PR for a seventh consecutive year, getting as fast as 1:47.13 for fourth at the NCAA East Prelims. That earned him a ticket to NCAAs in Eugene this weekend, where he once again ran very well, just missing a lane in the final.

Sherrer ran 1:47.34 to place sixth in the first of three semifinal races. Sherrer was the fourth-fastest non-qualifier, missing the final by 82/100ths of a second. Because two qualifiers (heat winners) ran slower than him, he wound up with the 10th-fastest time overall.

Sherrer’s 10th-place finish is the best by a Mississippi half-miler at NCAAs since legendary George Kersh won the 1991 championship after placing second in 1990. Victor Shine in 1984 is the only other Ole Miss half-miler to race at outdoor NCAAs.

After not breaking 1:54 in high school, Sherrer finds himself the No. 4 800 runner in Mississippi history. Here’s a look at the all-time top-10:

  • 1:44.07 … George Kersh, 1991
  • 1:46.13 … Craig Engels, 2016
  • 1:46.84 … Thomas Johnson, 1990
  • 1:47.13 … Holland Sherrer, 2016
  • 1:47.55 … Dameon Morgan, 2016
  • 1:47.99 … Sean Tobin, 2014
  • 1:48.01 … Victor Shine, 1984
  • 1:48.77 … Terrance Manogin, 1994
  • 1:49.84 … Alonzo Banks, 1999
  • 1:49.85 … Cornelius Tate, 1984

 

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