By Christopher Hunt
If Charlene Lipsey’s indoor season could be described as anything, it’s been a showcase. The Hempstead senior has displayed jaw-dropping range and awe-inspiring dominance in a way that’s made her one of the most sought-after middle distance runners in the country.
But Lipsey kept a tight lip while people asked her where she would go to college after every race and college coaches probably sat by the phone hoping they landed one of the most dynamic runners to come out of New York. Lipsey announced yesterday that she accepted a full athletic scholarship to Louisiana State University. She picked LSU over Texas A&M, Penn State and South Carolina.
“That whole process was just so frustrating,” a relieved Lipsey said. “It’s like, I started running track as a sophomore and I would run mostly relays. Then last year, my junior year, I kind of started to make a name for myself. Now this year, I’m getting all this attention from people, the media, coaches and colleges. I was just kind of all over the place. I didn’t really know what to do. Basically all this stuff happened over night.”
So Lipsey, who holds the nation-leading time in the 600, second-fastest time in the 800 meters and the fourth-fastest time in the country in the mile, did the smart thing. She didn’t talk much about the schools that interested her. She didn’t give anyone any ideas and secretly she felt torn and a little confused. LSU was a better fit for Lipsey in terms of athletics but Penn State also had a solid program and was closer to home, something her mother, Stacey Morse, especially liked.
Lipsey, her coach Lenroy Raffington, Hempstead boys coach Michael Higgins and Lipsey’s mother, finally decided to have a meeting and work out what was best and what worked for Lipsey. Raffington, Higgins and Morse provided the pros and cons. The coaches made a case for LSU and Mom made a pitch for Penn State while Lipsey turned her head back and forth like she was watching a tennis match. Then everyone turned for her opinion. She still didn’t know.
“You’re trying to make your mom happy,” she said. “You’re trying to make your coach happy. You want everyone to be happy but you’re still trying to make yourself happy.”
In the end, athletically, LSU housed a better sprint program and more importantly standout Latavia Thomas, the 2008 NCAA 800-meter champion. Thomas also broke her own meet record at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational winning the women’s championship 800 meters in 2:04.54, the same meet where Lipsey set the fourth-fastest time in United States history in the 600, running 1:29.85 in the junior girls race.
Lipsey has been practically invincible this season, going undefeated in invitational races, including a mile in the mile at the New Balance Games in 4:55.81 over a field that included Roslyn’s Emily Lipari and University of Oregon-bound Melanie Thompson of Voorhees (N.J.).
“My season has been going farther than I ever expected it could go,” Lipsey said. “It’s just like I’ve accomplished more than I ever thought I would. I’ve been able to show range. Like when I won that mile (at New Balance Games) that’s when I said in my head that I might be a dangerous runner now. I think I finally started to see the talent that everyone said that I had.”
Reach Christopher Hunt at chunt@armorytrack.com.
