INDIANAPOLIS - Shippensburg University sophomore Neely Spence has been named the 2009 Women's Cross Country Athlete of the Year by USA Track and Field, a prestigious national award that is awarded annually to some of the nation's highest profile runners. 

Spence won the 2009 USA Junior Cross Country Championships in February and represented her country as the captain of the U.S. delegation at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Amman, Jordan. She was the top American finisher and the fourth-fastest non-African finisher in the world's most important junior race this year, completing the 6K course in 21:33 to earn 19th place.

In collegiate competition, Spence was named the PSAC Women's Cross Country Athlete of the Year and the USTFCCCA Women's Atlantic Region Athlete of the Year after winning a conference and regional championship for the second consecutive year. In fact, Spence was undefeated in collegiate cross country competition all year until reaching the NCAA National Championships, where she battled with an intestinal virus during the race and finished 43rd overall.

Perhaps her most impressive feat during her sophomore cross country season was a victory over an armada of Division I competition at the prestigious Brooks Paul Short Run, where Spence bested 363 participants to earn the individual championship with a time of 19:58 and add another outstanding achievement to an already wonderful career. She also won the Division I-laden Penn State National Invitational that was moved to Lock Haven as a result of snowfall.

Also in 2009, Spence made her collegiate track debut and finished with one individual national championship and contributed to a national championship relay squad. She was named the PSAC Women's Indoor and Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year for her efforts and finished the year by setting five university records.

During the indoor season, Spence was named the PSAC Most Valuable Track Athlete of the conference meet after finishing the two-day competition with an individual championship in the 3,000-meters and 1-mile run while anchoring the distance medley relay squad to a team title.

She was also a part of the distance medley relay squad that obliterated the national championship meet record with a time of 11:24.54, a time recorded before an official conversion from a flat track to a banked track that is more than five seconds faster than the previous record time of 11:29.89 set on a banked track in 2007 by Grand Valley State.

Despite posting automatic qualifying times in both the 1,500 and 5,000-meters, Spence only competed in the latter at the outdoor national championships. Spence's subsequent time of 16:35.36 helped her become the first outdoor national champion in school history and the first women's outdoor All-American for Shippensburg in the 5,000-meters since Emily Budnyk in 1999.

At the outdoor conference championships, Spence was a champion in the 3,000 meters and the 5,000 meters while finishing as a runner-up in the 1,500 meters to provide 28 points toward her team.

Previous female cross country athlete of the year awards include Shalane Flanagan and Deena Kastor. Flanagan currently holds the United States records in the 3K, 5K and 10K and was a bronze medalist in the 2008 Summer Olympics. Kastor won the bronze medal in the marathon at the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Notes: The school records set this year by Neely Spence were for the indoor 3K (9:35.87), indoor mile (4:54.71), indoor DMR (11:24.54), outdoor 1,500M (4:24.59) and outdoor 5K (16:35.36).