CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Shippensburg culminated its best season in program history on Saturday night from Johnson C. Smith University with a ninth-place finish at the 2010 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track Field Championships and four of its athletes achieving All-American status.

The Lady Raiders left the Irwin Belk Complex having totaled 23 points, marking the first time in school history that four women earned All-American status from individual event competition at a national meet. Over the last three seasons of outdoor competition, Shippensburg has produced 14 All-Americans.

“It is a lot of hard work on behalf of our student athletes and our coaches, and it all culminated together,” said SU head coach Dave Osanitsch. “I'm really proud of everyone involved in the program and it has been an historic year - from winning the PSAC Triple Crown to having all these young ladies become an All-American - at the end it is truly exciting.”

Under the lights, sophomore Neely Spence defended her outdoor national championship in the 5,000 meters by running a marvelous race, establishing the pace by taking the lead in the second lap and never letting up until crossing the finish line. Spence posted a time of 16:14.23 that was just short of her own school record in the event.

Through two seasons of collegiate competition, 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. Saturday's victory also marked the second time that Spence held off the advances of Queens (N.C.) senior Tanya Zeferjahn, this year's 10K national champion who ended her season as the 5K runner-up both indoors and outdoors. Saturday's margin of victory was more than six seconds.

“Neely winning another national championship in such great style puts a good ending to a fantastic year,” Osanitsch said.

Earlier in the evening, senior Mary Dell finished second in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 10:20.37 that broke the previous meet record and established a new all-time mark in PSAC history. It took a historic meet-record performance by Adams State freshman Alicia Nelson (10:11.48) to keep Dell off the first-place podium.

Dell extended her streak of consecutive championship seasons as an All-American to eight, a stretch that dates back to her seventh-place finish with the indoor DMR unit in 2008. She completes her collegiate track and field career as a three-time outdoor All-American and a three-time indoor All-American. Saturday's effort also marks the third different event in which Dell has been an All-American on the outdoor national stage (4x400-meter relay, 1,500 meters, 3K steeplechase).

“We will definitely miss Mary Dell; one of the best, and quite possibly the best athlete in the history of Shippensburg University,” Osanitsch said. “She is just phenomenal. She is the person that we built the program around when I took over and it is because of her in many respects that we have become the team that we are today.”

Sophomore Amanda Raudabaugh achieved her first individual All-American award with a stupendous time of 2:07.62 in the 800-meter run that resulted in a fifth-place finish. Raudabaugh ran the race of her life in a steady rain and handily broke her personal-best, school-record time of 2:09.10 set at this year's PSAC Championships.

Junior Abby Huber earned her first outdoor All-American award and her first overall individual All-American certificate with an eighth-place time of 4:29.70 in the 1,500-meter run. Huber's time is just one second short of her personal record in the event. She finished 12th in the event at last year's national championships.

Freshman Megan Breski competed in the pole vault Saturday morning but finished with no height. The pole vault began in earnest at 11 a.m. after separate delays on Friday of more than five hours that resulted in a postponement through just three combined attempts.

Overall, four of the six female student-athletes that competed this weekend earned All-America status. The two that did not, Breski and junior Erica Hess, set school records in their respective events this season and have achieved personal bests that will put them in the position for a return trip to nationals next season.

“This season has been the result of the building blocks of hard work and knowing what it takes to achieve the goals that we all wanted,” Osanitsch said. “To see it play out in the fashion that it did was very exciting. I'm really proud of the 2009-10 season, but honestly I'm excited about the future as well.”

Notes: The previous PSAC record in the steeplechase was 10:24.77, set by IUP's Sara Raschiatore in 2002…Dell's previous personal best and school record was 10:26.90, a time recorded at Penn Relays…it was just the fourth time in her career that Dell had competed in the steeplechase…Angelo State achieved its first women's national title in school history with 87 points…62 different programs scored at least one point…IUP finished in 20th place with 13 points, all scored by senior Maddy Outman (3rd in heptathlon, 5,392 points; 5th in 400M hurdles, 58.98; 7th in 100M hurdles, 13.88; 8th in long jump; 5.80m)…fellow PSAC programs Slippery Rock (12), Clarion (8), East Stroudsburg (5.5), Mansfield (4), and California (Pa.) (3) also scored points.