Michael Spence | Elite Runner

Michael Spence is a post-collegiate distance runner and steeplechaser with more than ten years of experience at the top level of the sport. He has been volunteering as an assistant coach at Utah State University since the fall of 2009. Spence graduated with an economics degree from Princeton University in 2000, and he was a NCAA Cross Country All-American in 1999.

He moved to Utah in 2003 to continue training for his primary event, the steeplechase, under the instruction of now-retired Weber State Track & Field Coach, Chick Hislop. He competed in the steeplechase at the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Trials, finishing 6th in 2008. In 2007, Spence was the silver medalist at the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He also captained the US National Team at the 2007 World Cross Country Championships in Mombasa, Kenya.

Most recently, Spence won the 2009 USATF 10k Trail Championships in North Carolina and was the silver medalist at the 2010 NACAC Cross Country Championships in Trinidad & Tobago. He is currently training for his first major marathon, planned for the fall of 2010.