No Sus-Spence In The Snow

Shippensburg senior and Armory favorite Neely Spence won her second straight Division II national championship in wintry conditions at the Plantes Ferry Athletic Complex in Spokane, Wash. Spence pulled off the slushy 13-second victory by covering the 6k course in 20:53.

Spence — a three-time All-American — could have used a shorter course. "I wanted to have as much fun as I could, and it was honestly exciting for about the first 2,000 meters," she said. "After that, though, I pretty much wanted the race to be over because in these conditions it was pretty hard to have much more fun and I think we were all pretty much ready to be done and get warm."

"It was like a blizzard out there," she added. "It's always something at nationals. There was just enough snow on the ground that you could hardly plant with your feet. The snow is fun in the sense it adds the element of drama, but the conditions were not conducive to great running."

Meanwhile at the NCAA Division III Championships, contested on the grounds of the Lake Breeze Golf Club in Winneconne, Wis., the men and women of New York University finished 19th and 30th, respectively.

Ryan Boyd and Dylan Karten crossed the finish line within a second of one another, the first finishers for the Violets, while Ben Sathre of St. Thomas (Minn.) was the overall winner in 23:44.27 followed by SUNY Geneseo's Lee Berube, of Putnam Station, N.Y., who was five seconds back. Geneseo finished a program-best fourth as a team on the men's side. St. Lawrence was eighth, NYU 19th and SUNY Cortland 20th.

"We ran just okay today," said NYU Coach Nick McDonough. "Not too good. Not too bad."

The NYU had some misfortune as top runner Maeve Evans, while among the leaders, fell hard and was unable to finish. In her place, Paige Zelinsky "really stepped up," according to McDonough, taking 41st overall.

Three New York schools finished among the top 12 on the women's side — SUNY Plattsburgh in seventh, St. Lawrence in eighth and Geneseo in 12th.