Reference:
Neely Spence's Career Bio
SU's All-Time Academic All-Americans
2009-10 National Academic All-Americans (.pdf)
TOWSON, Md. – Shippensburg sophomore
Neely Spence was named on Thursday morning to the 2009-10 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America® Women’s Track and Field/Cross Country Third Team (College Division) as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
Spence joins teammate Mary Dell as a national award winner for 2009-10, marking the first year that Shippensburg has had multiple All-Americans in the same sport since the 2005 softball team had three selections (L. Corr, A. Corr, J. Dacey). With Thursday’s honor, Spence becomes the 42nd national Academic All-America award winner in school history and the 35th unique recipient of the award. Her selection is Shippensburg’s fifth for its women's track and field/cross country program.
Spence, the 2010 PSAC Indoor and Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year and 2010 PSAC Female Sportsmanship Award winner, is a gifted student in the classroom. She is a human communication studies major seeking a minor in coaching, and finished her fourth collegiate semester with a 3.80 grade-point average (GPA).
During the outdoor campaign, Spence defended her 5K national championship with a time of 16:14.23 that was just short of her own school record in the event. Through two seasons, Spence is a five-time All-American in track and field and a four-time national champion. She has run the 5K three times on the national stage and never lost.
The 5K title helped Shippensburg culminate its best season in program history with a ninth-place finish at the 2010 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track Field Championships. The Lady Raiders totaled 23 points, marking the first time in school history that four SU women earned All-American status from individual event competition at a national meet.
Spence was a three-time All-PSAC athlete in outdoor competition and won two conference titles, including a victory in the 3K by a margin of 22 seconds. She contributed 28 points to a Shippensburg squad that recorded a meet-record 212.5 points and was an integral factor in the program becoming the first in the history of the PSAC to achieve a Triple Crown by winning the cross country, indoor track and field and outdoor track and field championships in the same calendar year since the PSAC began sponsoring an indoor championship in 2002.
She set two individual and one relay school record during the outdoor season. On May 1 at Princeton, Spence broke the 26-year-old PSAC record in the 3K with a time of 9:21.49 that also shattered Kathy Stec's 22-year-old school record by more than 21 seconds. The time reads two-tenths of a second short of Julie Bowers time in 1984, but that mark was a hand time and upon conversion it is .05 seconds slower than Spence's effort.
At the Penn Relays, Spence finished fourth in the 5K with a time of 16:13.34 that improved her own school record in the event by 22 seconds. Despite battling cold symptoms that day, Spence only trailed runners from Stony Brook, Villanova and George Washington. She also contributed to the 4x800-meter relay team that ran at Bucknell on April 10 which broke the previous PSAC record with a time of 9:07.63.
She also won the 5K national title at the 2010 Indoor Track and Field Championships and was the anchor leg of the DMR squad that earned All-American status with a second-place finish. She was the USTFCCCA Atlantic Region Co-Track Athlete of the Year as well as the Track and Overall MVP of the PSAC Indoor Track and Field Championships after winning all three events in which she competed. Spence also set conference records in both the indoor and outdoor 4x800-meter relay events as well as the outdoor PSAC record in the 3K.
In cross country, Spence was the PSAC Cross Country Athlete of the Year for the second consecutive season and helped lead the Lady Raiders to their fourth overall PSAC and regional titles in school history and second straight. She won the PSAC and Atlantic Region individual championships during the postseason and also won individual titles at the prestigious Brooks Paul Short Run and the Penn State National Invitational.
Spence, a PSAC Winter Top 10 award winner this season, is a 13-time PSAC placewinner, 13-time All-PSAC competitor and 11-time PSAC champion. She has helped set nine school records, five PSAC records and an NCAA meet record during her still-growing Lady Raider career.
To be eligible for Academic All-America® consideration, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative G.P.A. of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director.