BY JOSEPH STASZEWSKI
A bit of a buzz hit the press room at the Armory when someone said that Roslyn's Emily Lipari was likely running the invitational mile at the Hispanic Games last Saturday. She brings that level of attention after a stellar cross-country season. That attention will certainly increase after she won the event and earned a spot in the Millrose Games on Feb 1.
"I'm just excited because I get to race so many respected runners," Lipari said.
She said the decision for her to run at the Hispanic Games was made just two days prior, "I was kind of thrown into it.”
According to Lipari it was just her third distance race indoors. She is happy to be back running her normal distance after competing in a few sprints early in the indoor season.
She looked right at home
Running in the last lane, she worked her way back to the front of the pack after getting swallowed up in the pack early
"I kind of felt my shoes hitting someone else so I was like I hope I don’t fall,” Lipari said.
With a lap and a half left he decided to make her move on Gillian Greibesland of Warwick (Section IX).
“I always look at the girl’s condition in front of me,” Lipari said. “If I feel like she is looking really really strong, I’ll sit behind her until its completely necessary. If the girl looks like she is dying I’ll pass her right there. It kind of makes her go faster earlier.”
Greibesland had enough left to pass her, but Lipari found a late reserve and a strong final kick you are not used to seeing from her to earn the win in the straightaway.
Maybe some of those sprints paid off.
Comments (1)
Thank you Newsday for the continued fine coverage of the track & field meets contested here in the New York metro area.
Congratulations to Emily and here coaching staff for Emily's victory at the Hispanic Games this past weekend. Emily has shown that she is still in good shape after an extraordinary cross country season. To dip under five minutes in the mile by more than three seconds after her previous indoor best was 5:07.10 FAT (interestingly enough, in last year's Hispanic Games) is rather remarkable.
Emily has demonstrated her fine tutelage by running with patience and waiting until late in the race to make her move. As a veteran coach has told me on several occasions, "The most important time to be running your fastest is at the end of the race." Ladies and gentlemen! Now performing at a local track/field facility near you is Miss Emily Lipari, the pride and joy of Roslyn High School.
Long Island, and in particular, Nassau County is blessed to have such a fine runner as Emily performing for us on a weekly basis. Folks, you need to find the time to go out and see this exceptional young lady perform. In addition, there are several other noteworthy perfomers from Long Island: Sara McCurdy form Bay Shore, Charlene Lipsey from Hempstead, Brianna Welch from North Shore, Vanessa Stewart from North Babylon, Laura Greene from Sachem East, Christie Verdier from Baldwin, Suejin Ahn from Ward Melville, Janet Mellor from Mt. Sinai, Ashley Hendrix from Uniondale, Melissa Tassone from Comsewogue, Emily Menges and Maddie Adams from Garden City, Courtney Kelly from Mepham, Leah Buletti from Westhampton Beach, Emilija Vaskyte from Valley Stream North, Christine Wilkinson form Copiague, Danielle Silas from Glen Cove, Danielle Toritto & Erin Pardini from Smithtown East, Erica Cirino from Cold Spring Harbor, Lauren McGrath from Shoreham-Wading River, among many more. All of the above have already performed at the NY State championships in either winter track or spring track or have performed well enough this winter season to perform at the state meet this March.
And this is only on the girls side.
Just one person's observations! 8-)