BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Senior Neely Spence finished second in the 6K Gold Race at Friday's 38th annual Paul Short Run and junior Katie Spratford set a new collegiate PR with a Top 50 finish to guide the No. 8 Shippensburg University women's cross country team from Lehigh's Goodman Campus Course.

Shippensburg was one of five teams among the Atlantic Region's Top 10 to compete Friday at Lehigh but the only school running in the Gold Race. No. 16 Lock Haven, the region's No. 3 team, and No. 24 Mansfield, the region's No. 4 team, ran in the Brown Race while Kutztown (No. 5 in region) and Seton Hill (No. 9 in region) ran in the White Race.

Spence was in a battle for the individual championship with Villanova senior Bogdana Mimic and Providence sophomore Emily Sisson. Mimic is a native of Serbia and a two-time All-American who finished 27th at last year's Division I national championships. Sisson was an All-American with Wisconsin last year after a 14th-place finish at D-I nationals.

Ultimately, Mimic won the race with a time of 20:10. Spence finished in 20:19, while Sisson crossed the finish line in 20:20. Spence's time is her fastest in a collegiate 6K cross country race since her sophomore season when she was victorious in the 2009 NCAA Atlantic Regional Championships with a time of 20:15. That same season, Spence established her collegiate 6K PR in winning the Paul Short Run with a time of 19:58.

Spratford's performance was arguably her strongest yet as a collegiate runner. The All-American finished 48th overall in Friday's race with a time of 21:26. Her previous collegiate 6K PR was 21:44, set in 2008 as a freshman with Richmond from the Penn State National Invitational.

Not to be lost in the performance of the Top 2 runners was a new collegiate PR for Shippensburg's No. 3 runner: senior Jamie McCollum. After crossing the finish line Friday with a time of 23:06, McCollum improved her PR by five seconds to improve upon her previous best set during her freshman season in 2007 at the NCAA regional championships.

Sophomore Emma Shank made a statement with a wonderful performance as Shippensburg's No. 4 runner. Shank 's time of 23:21 is a 47-second PR and marks the second straight race that she has been a scoring runner for the Raiders.

Senior Sarah Strayer returned this week and rounded out SU's scorers with a time of 23:37 as Shippensburg's No. 5 runner.

Four of SU's freshmen runners significantly improved upon their 6K debuts from two weeks ago at Kutztown's Division II Challenge. April Schlusser was the No. 6 runner in the Gold Race with a time of 23:49 – an effort that is 76 seconds faster than her finish at Kutztown.

Katy Perry crossed the finish line in 24:06 while Mackenzie Riford and Alicia O'Donel posted respective times of 25:29 and 25:32 in the Open Race held earlier in the morning.

The highlight of the women's Open Race was a marvelous run by junior Katie Wiechelt, who set a 52-second PR with a time of 24:06.

Among the talent-laden field of Friday's Gold Race was four Division I schools ranked among the Top 10 schools in the country, including No. 1 Georgetown, No. 3 Providence, No. 5 Villanova and No. 9 Duke. SU finished 21st overall, ahead of D-I teams from Richmond, UNC, Tennessee, Colgate, UMass, Colgate, Quinnipiac and host Lehigh amongst others.

Shippensburg will next compete as a team October 15 at Gettysburg.

Gold 6K
2. Neely Spence 20:19
48. Katie Spratford 21:26 [new PR by 0:18]
214. Jamie McCollum 23:06 [new PR by 0:05]
239. Emma Shank 23:21 [new PR by 0:47]
273. Sarah Strayer 23:37
289. April Schlusser 23:49 [new PR by 1:16]
322. Katy Perry 24:06 [new PR by 0:43]
336. Allison Constant 24:18

Open 6K
78. Katie Wiechelt 24:06 [new PR by 0:52]
176. Mackenzie Riford 25:29 (new PR by 0:30)
177. Alicia O'Donel 25:32 (new PR by 0:29)
304. Allie Flott 28:08
* Courtney Spratford ran unattached and finished 39th in 23:25.