Big East Championships Concludes With Two Meet Records

 By Chris Lotsbom, ArmoryTrack.com 

A pair of New York natives set meet records here on the final day of competition at the Big East Conference Championships. Villanova senior Emily Lipari (Roslyn) timed 2:43.69 for 1000 meters for her third consecutive conference title in that event and Georgetown freshman Sabrina Southerland (Benjamin Cardozo) clocked 2:04.85 for 800 meters. The men's and women's teams from Villanova prevailed victorious, becoming the first school since Connecticut in 2009 to sweep the team titles.

Lipari won thanks to her patented kick. Sitting behind Georgetown's Katrina Coogan for 950 meters, Lipari bided her time before sprinting home to the finish.

"For me, that's the easiest way to run. It's what's most natural for me, and if someone is going to take the race out then I'm just going to go behind them," she said. "There's really no point in fighting it."

Rounding the final bend and accelerating into lane three, Lipari surged by Coogan's right shoulder and crossed the line with a new meet record, shaving one hundredth of a second off Sheila Reid's mark.

"It's kind of special to be able to do this in my last year," Lipari said. "I'm really excited looking forward to see what else will happen [this year]."

Southerland drew some of the loudest cheers of the evening before winning the 800. Her supporters included friends, family, and her high school coach, Ray James.

"I could not imagine setting the record anywhere else. This is my home track so I'm happy I did it here," she said.
Southerland's time was more than a half second faster than Kathy Klump's previous meet best of 2:05.47. Later in the evening, Southerland returned to the track, splitting roughly 2:04 for her leg of the 4x800m relay.

Day two of the Big East Championships provided many highlights both on and off the track. Here's a rundown of the best performances:

- DePaul dominated the men's 200 meters, taking all three medal positions. Claiming the gold was Tonderai Tomu in 21.43 seconds, followed by Xavier Jones (21.60) and Mac Melto (21.90). Continuing their sprinting success, DePaul's Jones finished first in the 60 meter dash (6.91 seconds) and Mac Melto won the 400 meters in 48.08.

- The men and women of Villanova tallied 122 points in the distance events on Saturday. Among Wildcat winners were Lipari in the women's 1000m, Angel Piccirillo in the women's mile, Josh Lampron in the men's 1000m, Jordan Williamsz in the men's mile, and Sam McEntee in the men's 3000m. The Wildcats also placed first in the women's 4x800m relay

(note: the women's 4x800m relay was run one lap short, as the third legs only completed 600 meters before handing off to the anchors).

- Ahmed Bile, son of former IAAF World Championships 1500m gold medalist Abdi Bile, won the men's 800m. He also anchored Georgetown's champion 4x800m relay team.

- Georgetown's Amanda Kimbers rebounded from an injury that kept her out of last year's championships to win the 200 meters in 23.78 seconds. She also finished second in the 60 meter dash.

- Rikka Lovely of St. John's won the women's 60 meters (7.48 seconds) and also finished second in the 200m (23.92).

- In the men's triple jump, Eghosa Aghayere of Georgetown leaped 15.09 meters (49-6.25 feet), nearly five feet farther than runner-up Brett Tobin of Marquette.

- The women's shot put went to DePaul's Sarah Chappell, the only athlete to throw beyond 45 feet. Her farthest mark was 45 feet, 10 inches.