LOCK HAVEN, Pa. – Shippensburg University junior Neely Spence was named the 2011 PSAC Women's Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year on Thursday morning after voting was conducted by the league's coaches. Spence has now been named an athlete of the year in all nine of her competitive seasons to date at Shippensburg.

Spence won her third consecutive 5K national championship two weeks ago from California State University Stanislaus with a time of 16:17.30. She is just the fourth female athlete in school history to be a three-time outdoor All-American in the same event, joining Emily Budnyk (10K), Kathy Stec (3K) and Tunisia Lacy (triple jump). Stec, Lacy and Spence are the only five-time All-Americans in the same event combining indoor and outdoor competition.

Earlier this year, Spence was named the 2011 USTFCCCA Atlantic Region Women's Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year after winning three events at the PSAC outdoor championships. She was also named the overall meet MVP of the PSAC outdoor meet after first-place finishes in the 1,500, 3K and 5K.

In April, Spence broke the all-time Division II record in the 5K at the prestigious Mt. Sac Relays with a time of 15:33.83. She also improved her own conference record in the 3K at the Penn Relays with a victorious time of 9:10.82.

Through three years of indoor and outdoor track & field competition, Spence has won 17 PSAC championships in 19 total races.

Overall, it is the 12th PSAC competitive honor achieved by Spence in an already illustrious career. She is a three-time PSAC Cross Country Athlete of the Year, a three-time PSAC Indoor Track Athlete of the Year and a three-time PSAC Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year. In 2008-09, Spence was also the PSAC Freshman of the Year in cross country, indoor track & field and outdoor track & field in addition to her Athlete of the Year honors.