Strebel Perseveres To Qualify for New York State Indoor Track and Field Championships

Lily Strebel sat just off the track at Suffolk County Community College in Brentwood on February 2 in pain after finishing her portion of the 4x800-meter relay in the Small Schools Championship. Trying to help the team set a new school record, the Westhampton Beach senior may have pushed herself a little too far in her third race of the day and tweaked her hamstring on her right leg. The usually stoic and relatively healthy Strebel wondered if her injury was serious enough where it could possibly derail her plans of returning to the New York State Track and Field Championships.

Although she had over a week to rest and heal, Westhampton Beach girls indoor track head coach John Broich and trainer Scott Leogrande had their reservations in allowing Strebel to compete in the Section XI Championships, also known as the state qualifier, also held at Suffolk County Community College in Brentwood, on February 11, fearing that she could make her injury worse and possibly affect her upcoming and final spring track season. With a trip to states on the line, though, there wasn’t much that was going to keep Strebel from running, so she toed the line first in the 1,000-meter race.

With her hamstring bandaged, and in visible pain throughout, Strebel persevered to place fourth overall in the county in 2:58.48, running against some of the top girls in not only the county or state but the country, in Bayport-Blue Point senior Sophia McInnes and William Floyd senior Zariel Macchia, who placed first and second in 2:48.59 and 2:50.97, respectively. Bellport senior Ella Masem placed third in 2:53.64.

While Strebel’s finish in the 1,000 was admirable, she did not qualify individually for states in the event, but did qualify for an intersectional relay. That wasn’t quite good enough for Strebel.

With a shot to qualify individually in the 1,500-meter race, Strebel once again had to decide if it was worth it to risk further injury to her hamstring in what was a longer race. Against the wishes of her coaches, trainers and parents, Strebel opted to give it a go with the thinking that she could always pull out of the race. Not only did she finish the race, she placed second in 4:46.44 to punch her ticket to states.

“I was very nervous going into the race,” Strebel said of the 1,000. “I didn’t have an ideal training week going into it. I figured it was all God’s timing, that, if anything, I can just walk out of the race and sit out the next race.

“Being in the race with girls like Zariel Machhia and Sofia McInnes, though, who are, the last I checked, the No. 1 and No. 3 girls in the country, just being in that race was a benefit and I was just happy to be in it,” she added. “Coach Broich also wrote me a note that said I don’t have anything to prove.”

Strebel said that despite being in some pain after the 1,000, she knew she still had some left in her, which is what made her at least attempt the 1,500.

“I figured I’d get on the line and whatever happens happens,” she said. “I think part of it was adrenaline and part of it was I had taken a lot of Advil that day. I still didn’t feel great, but I knew I was going to be in pain either way, so why not at least try? I would have been mad at myself had I not gotten on the line. I always had the option to pull out.”

But within the first three laps, Strebel said, she knew she was going to be able to finish. She was only behind Bay Shore junior Maggie McCormick, who wound up winning the race in 4:34.74, but had a sizable gap on the next pack of runners, so she pushed herself to finish. Assistant coach Meg Yakaboski was at the finish line ready with a bag of ice, and Broich motivated her in the finals laps, yelling, “You’re doing it, Lily! You’re doing it!”

“That’s the only thing I could repeat to myself,” she said of her coach’s words. “I got in a position behind Maggie McCormick where I knew if I stuck close by her and kept enough distance between me and the chase pack, that I could possibly finish second and qualify.

“Crossing the finish line, my Mom and Dad were there, my Mom jumped in the air saying I did it,” Strebel continued. “Having already qualified for states in the intersectional relay was nice, but I’ve set a pretty high standard for myself since sophomore year. I had trained so hard all season long to get to this point and so I just pushed through all the pain. I believed in myself and in God’s timing to be able to let me have enough strength to finish.”

Even before Strebel’s most recent performance, Broich was willing to tell anyone who would listen that Strebel was a tough person. Not that she needed to, but she proved her coach right.

“To be honest with you, between me and Scott Leogreande, it was touch and go. We really weren’t sure if she was going to be able to run at all,” he said. “After the 1,000, I thought she did the best she could. She qualified for the intersectional relay and we all thought she was done. And then she looked over at me and asked, ‘Can I try the 1,500?’

“I’ve seen her back off with injuries before, but this time she was stubborn about it,” Broich added. “I’m obviously not going to doubt her. She’s a tough kid. I just didn’t want her to get hurt more.”

Westhampton Beach freshman Fina DiBiaso competed in both races with Strebel. She finished 11th in the 1,000 in 3:15.15 and 12th in the 1,500 in 5:03.44.

The Hampton Bays boys 4x200-meter relay team also competed at the state qualifier. Senior Charlie Alvarracin, junior Daniel Ortiz, sophomore Erick Ibanez and senior Kevin Londono placed third out of four schools in the Division II/Small Schools race in 1:38.78. Londono also competed individually in the 55-meter dash, where he finished 14th overall in the county in 6.79 seconds.

Strebel spent the following week after the state qualifier resting and doing small exercises to rest her hamstring in lead up to the New York State Track and Field Championships, which will not take place until March 8 at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex on Staten Island. Broich said Strebel just started to get back to a little bit of running this past Monday, and that they’ll ramp her up some as they get closer to the meet. Strebel said she may run in one final race, such as the Long Island Elite Meet, to improve her seed time, but that’s something that’s going to be decided by how well her rehab process goes.

Strebel placed fourth among all Federation runners, and second among public school runners at last year’s state championships.

“I’m excited to be able to go states again,” she said. “It’s a blessing to just say I’m going when there were times I didn’t think I was. But the Ocean Breeze is an amazing complex and I’m proud to be representing Section XI and my school.”