LOCK HAVEN, Pa. - Sophomore Neely Spence was named the PSAC Women's Cross Country Athlete of the Week on Monday afternoon for the second time this season by conference officials after finishing as the top competitor at Friday's rain-adjusted cross country meet from Lock Haven that featured a majority of the field that was scheduled to compete at the 2009 National Invitational.

Spence finished with a time of 20:21 and earned a victory by a mere second over the top runner from West Virginia University, senior All-American Keri Bland. The Mountaineer cross country program entered the week ranked No. 3 in Division I and ran all of their top runners on Friday. Bland finished 14th last season at the Division I National Championships.

Spence took the lead at the 4K mark of the race and had to fight off the advances of several runners for the individual championship. Last year as a freshman, Spence finished sixth overall with a time of 20:36 at the University Park course.

It is the fourth individual championship this season for Spence; who finished 31 spots ahead of the closest Division II competitor and outran the field that consisted of 202 runners.