Day 1 Results

ALBUQUERQUE – The Shippensburg University women's distance medley relay squad of senior Mary Dell, senior Shannon Hare, junior Abby Huber and sophomore Neely Spence earned All-American honors for the third consecutive year from the Division II Indoor Track and Field National Championships with a second-place finish in 11:31.29.

The Lady Raider quartet finished just more than one second off the lead time of 11:29.88. Shippensburg's effort is actually a faster pace than SU's previous meet record time of 11:24.54 that was set last year due to the fact that this year's host venue in Albuquerque is 5,300 feet above sea level.

Shippensburg took an early lead behind a sensational opening split of 3:31.58 by Dell in the 1,200-meters. Hare maintained the lead for Huber with a time of 57.24 seconds but the squads from Adams State and Grand Valley State began to pick up ground during the second leg and the 800-meter leg. Huber finished the third leg in 2:15.90.

Seattle Pacific, the national champion, was actually in fourth place entering the final 1,600 meters of competition where Spence had to battle cross country rival Jessica Pixler. Pixler made up five seconds on the rest of the field with an anchor leg of 4:41.36 and caught up to Spence during the final portions of the anchor leg.

The two runners, who finished at least 14 seconds faster than any other anchor legs in the competition, went toe-for-toe against each other during the final two laps. Both runners began to lap several other teams as Spence re-gained the lead at the start of the final lap, but a final kick from Pixler put Seattle Pacific in front at the finish line.

Huber, Dell and Hare achieved All-American honors for the third consecutive year dating back to 2008, when Shippensburg became the first PSAC school in history to achieve All-American honors in a relay. Spence joined the quartet last season when Shippensburg won the national championship in Houston and earned her second straight All-American effort in the DMR.

Also on Friday, junior Erica Hess, a four-time PSAC champion in the 400-meter dash, competed in the preliminary competition and finished 14th with a time of 57.56 seconds. She qualified for the event in 12th place and competed at the indoor national championships for the second straight year.

Sophomore Amanda Raudabaugh, the alternate for the DMR, ran a solid effort in the 800-meter dash with a 10th-place time of 2:15.69. She came just .54 seconds shy of reaching the final sessions on Saturday. Raudabaugh originally qualified in the 13th position.

On Saturday, Spence and Dell will compete in the 5K, a race that begins at 7:35 p.m. There are no preliminary races for the 5K. Also on Saturday in the field, junior Rebekah Newhart will be seeking a top performance in the high jump.