NEW ORLEANS - Shippensburg women's cross country junior Neely Spence and head coach Steve Spence have been honored for the third consecutive year by the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCA) as the Atlantic Region Cross Country Athlete and Coach of the Year.

Neely Spence has won every meet in which she has competed this season, including a 52-second victory in the Atlantic Region Championships and a 70-second victory in the PSAC Championships. Perhaps her most impressive victory came in the Greater Louisville Classic, where she set a 5K course record of 16:32.90 against a field chock-full of Division I competition. That course is the same track on which the 2010 National Championships will be held next week.

Coach Spence guided the Lady Raiders to their third consecutive conference and regional championships this season. The 2010 victories have been particularly impressive, as SU recorded a 79-point victory at the PSAC meet and an 86-point victory at the regional meet. 

At the PSAC Championships, SU had nine of its 10 runners achieve All-PSAC honors with a Top 20 finish. SU'spack was so impressive at the meet, that if the No. 6 through No. 10 runners had competed as a separate team, that group would have finished second at the meet ahead of all the other PSAC schools.

At the regional championships, all five of SU's scoring performers earned All-Region honors and all seven of its runners finished among the Top 20 competitors.