Reference:
Mary Dell's Career Bio
SU's All-Time Academic All-Americans
2009-10 National Academic All-Americans (.pdf)

TOWSON, Md. – Shippensburg senior Mary Dell was named on Thursday morning to the 2009-10 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America® Women's Track and Field/Cross Country First Team (College Division) as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

Dell is the only female athlete in school history to achieve Academic All-America First Team honors on multiple occasions and has done so in back-to-back years. She is the 41st national Academic All-America award winner in school history and remains the 34th unique recipient of the honor. Her selection is Shippensburg's fourth for its women's track and field/cross country program.

A biology major certified for secondary education, Dell graduated in May with a 3.97 grade-point average (GPA) and will be continuing her education this fall at Shippensburg with the assistance of a NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship. Dell is just the fifth student-athlete in school history to earn a postgraduate scholarship.

Thursday's honor is the fifth academic award that Dell has received in the 2009-10 athletic calendar year. In addition to her postgraduate scholarship and her regional All-America selection, Dell earned a PSAC Fall Top 10 award for her cross country prowess and a PSAC Spring Top 10 award for her success in outdoor track. For her career, Dell has won four PSAC Top 10 awards, more than any athlete in SU history.

At the 2010 Division II Outdoor National Championships, 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 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. It took a historic meet-record performance by Adams State freshman Alicia Nelson (10:11.48) to keep Dell off the first-place podium.

She was a three-time All-PSAC athlete in outdoor competition and won two conference titles, including a victory in the 3K steeplechase by a margin of 10 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 athletic calendar year since the PSAC began sponsoring an indoor championship in 2002.

During the indoor season, Dell ran the opening leg on the distance medley relay squad that finished second at the 2010 Division II National Championships. She was also a four-time All-PSAC athlete, winning the DMR at the indoor conference championships and finishing as a runner-up in the 800, mile and 3K. Dell contributed 34 points to a Shippensburg squad that won its first-ever outright indoor conference championship.

In cross country, Dell was Shippensburg's lone All-American at the national championships with a 21st-place finish. Her 2009 performance was an improvement of 62 seconds and 12 places from her performance on the snow-packed national course in 2008 at Slippery Rock. SU concluded its 2009 season with a 15th-place finish at the national championships in addition to PSAC and Atlantic Region championships.

Dell completed her collegiate track and field career as a three-time outdoor All-American and a three-time indoor All-American. She has been an All-American in three different events on the outdoor national stage (4x400-meter relay, 1,500 meters, 3K steeplechase) and received an All-PSAC designation 24 times, including seven PSAC individual championships. Dell is also a two-time All-American in cross country.

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.

Notes: Two additional athletes in school history have achieved back-to-back Academic All-America First Team awards: football place kicker Joel Yohn ('94, '95) and football fullback John Kuhn ('03, '04)…the other multiple female Academic All-Americans in SU history, regardless of class, are Danielle Argento ('97, 98) and Page Heath ('02, '03, '04)…fellow track athlete Neely Spence was named to the Academic All-America Third Team squad on Thursday.