Steve Spence, an Olympic marathoner, World Championships marathon bronze medalist and 16-time PSAC Coach of the Year, enters his 19th season as an assistant coach for the Shippensburg University track and field programs.
Spence served as the head track and field coach for eight seasons beginning in October of 1997. He stepped down as head coach in the summer of 2005 order to focus on SU’s cross country program – which he has now helmed for 15 seasons.
During his eight-year span solely as SU’s head cross country coach, Shippensburg distance running has had unprecedented success. The women’s cross country team has won five consecutive PSAC and Atlantic Region championships while in 2010 the men’s program won the school’s first PSAC and Atlantic Region championships in history.
At Shippensburg, Spence has tutored 74 All-Americans in track and 12 All-Americans in cross country. Among the distinguished distance runners he has mentored are Randy Lowe, who won the 10K outdoor national championship in 1992, Emily Budnyk, the national runner-up at the 10K outdoor national championship in 1999, Mary Dell, the national runner-up in the 3K steeplechase in 2010, and daughter Neely Spence, a four-time national champion in the 5K and two-time national cross country champion. Steve has also coached four national championship indoor distance medley relay squads, winning both the men’s and women’s titles in 2011.
In his eight-year tenure as the head coach of four sports (men’s and women’s track and field and men’s and women’s cross country), Spence was named a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Coach of the Year six times. He earned conference coach of the year awards for men’s cross country in 2001, men's indoor track and field in 2003 and 2005, men's outdoor track and field in 2003 and 2004 and in women's outdoor track and field in 2005. He was also named the NCAA Division II East Regional Men's Track and Field Coach of the Year honors in 2003, 2004 and 2005.
Under Spence's tutelage, Shippensburg won three PSAC championships in men's outdoor track and field and one in indoor track and field. In 2005, Spence became the first men’s track and field coach in conference history to win both the indoor and outdoor championships in the same season. The feat was matched by Coach Osanitsch in 2009.
A 1985 graduate of Shippensburg with a bachelor of science degree in business administration, Spence made a name for himself as a member of the cross country and track and field teams, where he was a seven-time NCAA Division II All-American. His first 10 years as a volunteer coach came at a time while he was running competitively and was one of the top American road racers.
Spence is a Central Pennsylvania native from Elizabethtown. He came to Shippensburg University after graduating from Lower Dauphin High School in Hummelstown. As a student-athlete, he earned All-American honors in the 5,000 meters four years in a row in outdoor track and one year in indoor track while also receiving All-America honors twice in cross country.
He was a PSAC champion in the 1,500 meters in 1982 and 1984, the 5,000 meters in 1982 and 1985 and the 10,000 meters in 1985. Two of his All-America honors in the 5,000 meters, outdoor in 1984 and indoor in 1985, were NCAA Division II national championships. In 1982 and 1985, Spence was voted Outstanding Track Athlete in the conference by the coaches. Currently, he still holds four school records in the 3,000 and 5,000 meters as well as the 1-mile and 2-mile runs while holding the outdoor record in the 5,000 meters.
Spence is committed to creating individualized training programs in order to help each student-athlete reach their goals and achieve their potential. He and his wife Kirsten have three daughters, Neely, Reynah and Margeaux and one son, Eli. The family lives in Shippensburg.
