Lock Haven, Pa. - For the second straight year and for the fourth time in the five-year existence of the awards, a PSAC student-athlete has been honored as the NCAA Division II Sportsmanship Award winner as Shippensburg's Neely Spence has been honored as the female recipient of the 2009-10 Division II NCAA Sportsmanship Award.
One of six recipients of a sportsmanship award - one male and one female at each NCAA level, Divisions I, II and III - Spence follows Clarion swimmer Jamie Maloney, who was the female recipients of last year's Division II sportsmanship award. The PSAC has boasted either the male or female recipient of the Division II Sportsmanship Award now in four of the five years since the NCAA first established the Sportsmanship Awards during the 2005-06 academic year. Last year, Maloney became the second winner from Clarion, joining Lisa Baumgartner, who won the Division II award in 2007. Rae Sherred of Edinboro and Mike Rose of Slippery Rock swept the inaugural Division II awards in 2006, with Rose collecting the overall award that year, as well.
Spence, who was honored in June as the PSAC female Sportsmanship Award winner, is the first student-athlete from Shippensburg to win an NCAA Sportsmanship Award. Now entering her junior season on the Shippensburg women’s track & field and cross country teams, she is already well-known around the PSAC for her exploits on the track during the first two years of her college career but she made an even better name for herself with a very unselfish gesture at the PSAC Indoor Track & Field Championships this past February. Spence, who has dominated PSAC cross country and distance events on the track since her arrival on the scene in the fall of 2008, was biding her time and conserving energy for later races while running the 5,000 meters, having already posted an NCAA automatic qualifying time in the event. She was also aware that Mansfield runner Brenae Edwards was trying to post an automatic qualifying mark in the event as well. Edwards was leading the race for nearly two miles by herself when Spence caught her from behind and began to make her move to win the race. But, with five laps to go, Spence did not leave Edwards behind as she slowed slightly after passing Edwards and began to encourage her, telling her to keep up and stay with her. For the next four laps, Spence kept Edwards’ pace while encouraging her to stay close. With just one lap to go, Spence used her superior finishing kicks to win the race but her encouragement helped Edwards pick up her pace over the last four laps, enabling Edwards to finish second in the race with the NCAA qualifying time. When the duo crossed the finish line just two seconds apart, Spence seemed more elated that Edwards had run a personal best and an NCAA qualifying time rather than she had won the race. In her act of selflessness, Spence sacrificed a PSAC championship record to help Edwards in her quest to qualify for national. Spence, also a standout in the classroom as evidenced by her selection as a PSAC Winter Top 10 selection and as a ESPN The Magazine women's track & field/cross country third team Academic All-American®, has become good friends with Edwards in the time since and the two finished first and third, respectively, at the NCAA Indoor Track & Championships in the 5,000 meters.
“Neely is a truly deserving recipient,” said PSAC Commissioner Steve Murray. “Her actions demonstrate what the NCAA and the PSAC are proud to showcase in terms of high-level competition, in this case national championship calibur competition, whilealso maintaining good sportsmanship. We are especially proud that the unselfish acts of our student-athletes have been recognized on a national level now four times in the last five years.”
Spence joins Southern New Hampshire cross country student-athletes Tyler Parks and Mike Smith as the Division II Sportsmanship Award winners. Each NCAA nominee will receive a certificate, while the divisional and national winners will also receive a plaque in honor of their efforts.