Roslyn sophomore Emily Lipari won the girls race at Bethpage by 66 seconds in rain and a 24 mph wind, breaking the best girls time on record at the meet.
BETHPAGE, N.Y. — Roslyn sophomore Emily Lipari won the girls 5K at the Section VIII cross country State Qualifier at Bethpage in 17:43.5, the fastest girls time on record at the meet, and she did it in rain and a 24 mph wind. The previous best was the 18:28.4 run by North Shore's Brianna Welch to win the year before.
Lipari won by 66 seconds. Welch, also a sophomore, was second in 18:49.5, and Garden City senior Maddie Adams was third in 18:57.5, a personal best. Adams had finished 26th at the meet a year earlier.
The win was Lipari's ninth of the season; she had won eight meets before this one. She finished third at the meet as a freshman in 2006. Her time was a personal best by 37.5 seconds over her previous season best of 18:21.0, and it was the fastest girls time of the season on the Bethpage course. She had beaten Welch in their only earlier meeting this season.
Welch had won the meet in 2006 in 18:28.4. Before that, the girls title went to East Meadow's Brittney Criscuolo in 2002 in 18:28.7 and to JFK Bellmore's Maegan Krifchin in 2004 in 18:56.7. Lipari's time was faster than all of them.
There were 162 finishers in the girls race.