Here's an article from today's Roslyn (NY) News.
Lipari Leads Villanova to National Title Wins
Joe Scotchie
Friday, 25 March 2011
For Emily Lipari, the beat goes on.
After an amazing track career at Roslyn High School, where she received national recognition for her heroics in long distance running, Emily earned a scholarship to Villanova University, which for decades has featured one of the finest track programs in the nation.
From left to right Sheila Reid, Emily Lipari, Adrianne Neutts, and Christie Verdier.
At Villanova, Emily has continued her championship ways. Running for both the Cross Country and Distance Medley Relay (DMR) teams, Emily has helped Villanova relay squads win two national titles. The most recent one came at a meet on March 11 at the Texas A & M campus in College Station, TX.
In what her coaches describes as “an incredible race,” the Villanova women’s track team claimed a national championship in the DMR at Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium in College Station. The victory represents the second national title in the DMR for the Wildcats this year and the program’s 19th indoor title in its illustrious history.
Emily was joined on the medley team by fellow Long Islander, junior Christie Verdier of Baldwin, plus sophomore Ariann Neutts of Succasunna, NJ and senior Sheila Reid of Newmarket, Ontario. The team finished the relay with a school-record time of 10:52.52 and came in ahead of second place Oregon by a margin of just 0.38 seconds. In addition, the winning time breaks a school record that had stood for 23 years. Furthermore, the new mark is the second fastest ever run in NCAA competition, behind only the collegiate record set by the University of Tennessee in 2009.
Emily got her team off to a fast start, with a 1200 meter split time of 3:21.83. That had the Wildcats in third place, only 1.31 seconds behind the leader. The run by Emily was typical of her recent performances as she sprinted past four runners in the final 200 meters of her opening leg to put Villanova in a position to take the lead. The week before at the New York City Armory, Emily, for instance, ran the lead off 1200-meter leg in 3:20.7, which many believe to be the fastest time ever run.
In the second leg, Christie Verdier moved the Wildcats into second place with 400-meter run time of 53.73. That was followed by an 800-meter run of 2:07.07 by Ariann Neutts, which left Villanova only 0.17 seconds off the pace.
That situation was quickly rectified by the anchor run of Shelia Reid, who raced into the lead, securing another national title and more glory for the Villanova track squad.
“It was a perfect race,” said an admiring Villanova head coach Gina Procaccio. “Each of our girls did their job. I am so proud of the team for running a great race and what I am most excited about is breaking the school record, which had stood since 1988. That record [of 10:54.34] had been out there for so long and it seemed for a long time like it was out of reach. To not only break it but to do so by two seconds is incredible.”
In the fall, Emily helped the Villanova’s Women’s Cross Country team capture their second consecutive National Team title.
At the Big East Winter Track conference meet held in the third week of February, Emily captured two Big East titles for Villanova: One in the Distance Medley Relay and the second one in the 4 x 800 Relay. Emily also placed second overall in the Mile event at that same meet, all of which earned her All Big East Honors in just her first year.
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