LOCK HAVEN, Pa. – The No. 9 Shippensburg University women's cross country team achieved its fourth consecutive conference championship on Saturday morning from Lock Haven's West Branch course with a 43-point victory over No. 10 Edinboro while senior Neely Spence became the first athlete in conference history to win four consecutive PSAC individual titles.

Spence again posted a convincing victory, crossing the finish line with a time of 20:16.5 that was 25 seconds faster than anyone else in the field. In four years, Spence has posted victories of 25, 70, 10 and 17 seconds in her career at the PSAC championship meet.

She celebrated her historic victory by spending the night in Harrisburg before catching an early-morning flight to Guadalajara, Mexico – where she will compete Thursday for the United States in the 5K from the Pan-Am Games.

The historic achievement of Spence was one of many highlights for Shippensburg on Saturday. Spence was one of three All-PSAC runners for the Raiders along with junior Katie Spratford and sophomore Patty Reis.

Spratford was equally important to Shippensburg's team success as she maintained her All-America pace with a second-place finish behind Spence. Her time of 20:41 was an outstanding new 6K PR by 43 seconds and drastically improved upon her previous season best (and PR) that was set three weeks ago at the Paul Short Invitational. By comparison, Spratford finished 23rd at last year's Division II national championships with a time of 21:51. 

Spence and Spratford's incredible runs are all the more impressive considering both athletes were dueling a top-notch field of competitors. Mansfield 5K track All-American Brenae Edwards finished third in 20:45.8, while Bloomsburg's Victoria Davis took fourth in 21:04.6 and ESU All-American Rosie Mascoli finished fifth in 21:11.1. Millersville All-American Elicia Anderson placed 18th in 22:08.2.

Saturday's race was shifted to Lock Haven after the original host – Mansfield – had to bow out due to the flooding that has affected its campus since September. The switch resulted in what appears to be the fastest women's championship race in history, as 55 runners posted times under 23 minutes. Lock Haven also hosted the PSAC championship meet in 2008, and 35 runners bested 23 minutes with their times in that race – making a total of 90 sub-23 minute finishes in the two races.

However, in the seven PSAC championship meets since 2003 that have been held at a location other than Lock Haven, only 39 runners have finished with a time under 23 minutes.

Nonetheless, every runner was subject to the same course conditions and the same weather, and Shippensburg's competitors took full advantage. With the exception of Spence, every Raider runner in competition established a new 6K PR.

Not enough can be said about the importance and excellence of Reis, who made her season debut just seven days ago at Gettysburg and followed that up on Saturday with her second consecutive All-PSAC performance. Ironically, Reis finished 16th – her exact same place from a year ago for which she ultimately earned PSAC Rookie of the Year honors. Reis's time of 22:02 is also a new PR of 47 seconds – and an improvement of 1 minute and 54 seconds from her run last weekend.

Senior Sarah Strayer was one place short of another All-PSAC finish, but her lack of an all-conference citation is merely a testament to the speed of the race and the strength of the field. Strayer's 21st-place finish in 22:12 established a new 6K PR by 36 seconds, besting her previous personal best that was set as a freshman in 2008 from the Paul Short Invitational.

To compare the speed of Saturday's race to recent memory – Strayer's time of 22:12 would have been a third-place finish in last year's PSAC championship meet from the hilly course at California (Pa.) and been two seconds faster than the effort turned in by Shippensburg's Mary Dell.

Senior Jamie McCollum also blitzed her career and season PR, and like several of Shippensburg's current top performers, is running at what is arguably the best pace of her career. McCollum finished 24th in 22:18 – a new PR by 48 seconds – and finished a 6K cross country race in under 23 minutes for the first time in her career. It is the second straight race in which she has established a new 6K PR.

Saturday featured a breakthrough performance for freshman April Schlusser, who finished just two seconds behind McCollum with a 25th-place effort in 22:20. Schlusser was the top freshman in Saturday's race – finishing two places and two seconds ahead of California's Alexandra Zanella – marking the second straight year that SU has possessed the fastest rookie at the PSAC meet.

More impressive was the fact that Schlusser absolutely obliterated her previous 6K PR by 2 minutes and 42 seconds. In fact, Schlusser finished last year's PIAA cross country championship race – held on a 3.1 mile (approximately 5K) course – in 21:42, just 38 seconds slower than she finished a 6K on Saturday.

Sophomore Emma Shank earned 36th place in 22:28, improving her PR by 63 seconds. Junior Katie Wiechelt, fresh off a career race at Paul Short, erased 78 seconds from her 6K collegiate PR with a time of 22:48.

Rounding out the SU contingent was freshman Katy Perry, who completed the course in 23:07, and redshirt freshman Heather Weiss, who crossed the finish line in 23:24.

Edinboro, the squad expected to challenge Shippensburg for the team title, did not place any of its runners in the Top 10. Monica Ciarniello paced the Fighting Scots with an 11th-place finish while Kacey Gibson, a transfer from Florida State who earned NCAA All-South Region honors with the Seminoles, was one spot behind. Senior Danielle Cerroni, a two-time All-PSAC competitor who finished 15th a season ago, ended up in 80th place as Edinboro's No. 9 runner.

Lock Haven, which finished 10th at last year's PSAC championship meet, settled for third place and finished just 11 points behind Edinboro. The Lady Eagles used the strength of Lindsey Lambert (8th place) and Katie Sick (9th place) to edge Bloomsburg by eight points. The Huskies had three Top 30 finishes.

Mansfield had three All-PSAC runners in the Top 15 but had a large gap between its No. 3 and No. 4 runners and settled for fifth-place. Slippery Rock earned sixth place while East Stroudsburg, which also had three All-PSAC runners, settled for seventh place. The Warriors had a gap of 50 places between its No. 3 and No. 4 runner.

All of the PSAC schools will be back in action in two weeks when they are joined by the WVIAC and the CIAA for the NCAA Atlantic Regional championship on November 5 from Cooper's Lake Campground outside of Slippery Rock. The course was the site of the 2008 NCAA Atlantic Region and NCAA Division II National Championships.

Next weekend, SU will send a contingent back to Lock Haven to compete in the West Branch Invitational.

Shippensburg (1st, 64 points)
1. Neely Spence (20:16.5)
2. Katie Spratford (20:41.6) [new PR by 0:43]
16. Patty Reis (22:02.2) [new PR by 0:47]
21. Sarah Strayer (22:12.7) [new PR by 0:36]
24. Jamie McCollum (22:18.0) [new PR by 0:48]
25. April Schlusser (22:20.0) [new PR by 2:42]
36. Emma Shank (22:28.5) [new PR by 1:03]
48. Katie Wiechelt (22:48.5) [new PR by 1:18]
59. Katy Perry (23:07.6) [new PR by 0:59]
67. Heather Weiss (23:24.8) [new PR by 1:56]

Notes: Shippensburg's streak of four consecutive PSAC women's titles ties the third-longest streak in league history…Edinboro won nine consecutive PSAC titles from 1998-2006…IUP won five consecutive titles from 1983-87…Edinboro also won four straight PSAC titles from 1991-94…the only other female athlete in PSAC history to win three PSAC championships is IUP's Sara Raschiatore, who was victorious in 1999, 2001 and 2002.

Sub 23-minute times at recent PSAC Championships:
2011: 55
2010: 10
2009: 8
2008: 35
2007: 0
2006: 2
2005: 13
2004: 3
2003: 3