In her Roslyn High School track and cross country career, Greenvale native Emily Lipari won four national championships in the mile.
On Saturday, she scored her first at the collegiate level as a senior at Villanova.
Lipari joined Carmen Douma and Vicki Huber as the third woman in Wildcats history to win the indoor national championship in the mile, surging past four runners down the final straightaway in Albuquerque, NM, to finish with a 4:38:82 time.
“In the final lap I saw that I had a chance and I thought I may as well go for it or die trying,” Lipari said. “I saw that the four runners in front of me were within reach and their heads were bobbing to the side. My head was bobbing all over the place at that point too but I saw I had a chance to go for it.”
The victory was her first career individual national title.
She previously won a national championship as part of the school’s distance medley relay in 2011.
Lipari qualified for the finals by finishing third in her preliminary heat on Friday, but on Saturday she was sixth until the final quarter-mile.
She took the lead within 150 meters and led by herself for the final 30 meters of the race.
“My coach [Gina Procaccio, Villanova head coach] told me to put myself in a position to have a chance with 600 meters left and that is what I tried to do,” Lipari said. “Gina has always told me that no matter the pace of a race my final kick will always be there at the end.”
The win marked the 20th overall national championship in program’s history and Lipari is the 12th Villanova athlete to win multiple indoor national titles.
Lipari on Monday earned All-America honors for the sixth time in her indoor career. She is a two-time All-American in the indoor mile.
“I have raced at this level for awhile now, so I expected it,” she said. “At the national championships all of these women are incredible runners. I felt like I lost the touch for a little bit but I knew I was in position to be in contention.”
Earlier this season, she won her third straight Big East title in the 1,000 meters and anchored the Wildcats in the team’s fifth straight conference championship in the 4,800 meters.
While at Roslyn, Lipari was the 2007 and 2008 New York Athlete of the Year in cross country, winning national championships in the mile at the Nike Outdoor Nationals as a freshman, twice at the Nike Indoor Nationals and once at the New Balance National.
In her senior year in 2010, she won a championship in the mile at the Boston Indoor Games and an outdoor championship in the 3,000 meters at the Penn Relays.
Lipari, who majors in psychology and minors in biology, was also recruited by Georgetown, Providence and Oregon.
