SHIPPENSBURG, Tuesday, Oct. 25 — Shippensburg University senior Neely Spence will compete in the 5,000 meters for the United States  at the XVI Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico Thursday, Oct. 27.

The Pan American Games features 42 nations that will participate in 36 events and runs from Oct. 14 through Oct. 30.

Spence established her 5K PR of 15:27 in June at the 2011 USA Track & Field Championships with a seventh-place finish. She was the only current collegiate runner among the 15 in competition.

Joining Spence at the Games will be former UC-Davis standout Kim Conley, who finished 10th in the 5K at the USATF meet. Conley is also working as an assistant coach for her alma mater.

The 5K will be held at approximately 6:30 p.m. on the east coast.  Coverage options  in both Spanish and English include:

• ESPN Deportes – the Spanish-language broadcasting affiliate of ESPN, will provide live coverage of the competition  Oct. 27, from 4-11 p.m.

• WatchESPN is expected to maintain a live web stream of the ESPNDeportes coverage. That link is available here.

• The ESPN Deportes home page for the Pan-American Games is available in Spanish here.

• USA Track & Field is also providing daily updates of the Pan-American Games with stories, pictures and more at its website, available here.

The Top 5 seeds for the 5K, per the entry lists are as follows:

15:27.72 – Neely Spence – USA
15:27.74 – Cruz Da Silva – Brazil
15:27.94 – Marisol Romero – Mexico
15:28.71 – Sandra Lopez – Mexico
15:38.13 – Kim Conley – USA