PHILADELPHIA – Junior Neely Spence improved her conference 3K record by 10 seconds on Thursday night to win her first “gold watch” and highlight the solid performances by select members of the Shippensburg women's outdoor track and field team at the 117th Penn Relays from Franklin Field.

Spence posted a time of 9:10.82 to win the event by 17 seconds over Providence's Laura Nagel. Her previous conference record of 9:21.49 was set last season at Princeton. Spence was the only Division II competitor in Thursday night's 31-person field.

Not to be lost in Spence's success was the historic run by sophomore Katie Spratford – who broke SU's school record in the 10K with a sensational time that now ranks 10th in Division II and should send her to nationals as a result. Spratford's time of 35:19.63 is exactly 12 seconds faster than All-American Emily Budnyk's previous SU record set in 1998.

Sophomore Caitlin Stuetz finished in 31st place in the 400-meter hurdles ahead of numerous Division I runners with a time of 1:01.88. It is her second consecutive NCAA provisional qualifying mark and a slight improvement on her collegiate PR.

Shippensburg will host the 7th annual Paul Kaiser Classic this Saturday from Seth Grove Stadium. Field events begin at 9 a.m.

Notes: Volunteer assistant coach Mary Dell, a collegiate All-American and SU's record holder in the steeplechase, surpassed the USATF 'A' standard and won the Olympic Development steeplechase event on Thursday night with a huge PR of 10:08.83…Dell earned a gold watch of her own and will join Spence at the U.S. Track & Field Championships this summer.