Fritz Spence Position: Assistant Coach (Jumps, Multi-Events) Experience: 6th Year Alma Mater: Missouri State, '97

Coaching Awards and Honors:
* 2008 USTFCCCA Mid-Atlantic Region Men's Outdoor Assistant Coach of the Year
* 2008 USTFCCCA Mid-Atlantic Region Men's Indoor Assistant Coach of the Year
* 2006 USTFCCCA Mid-East Region Women's Outdoor Assistant Coach of the Year

Outstanding Athletes Coached:

Gayle Hunter
* NCAA Champion (2008, Outdoor 4x400)
* Nine-Time NCAA All-American
* 2009 NCAA Runner Up (Indoor Pentathlon)
* Four-Time Penn State Record Holder
* Four-Time Mid-Atlantic Region Field Athlete of the Year
* USATF Qualifier

Clarence Smith
* Two-Time NCAA All-American
* Three-Time Big Ten Champion
* Two-Time Mid-Atlantic Region Field Athlete of the Year
* 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials Qualifier
* USATF Qualifier

Hanif Johnson
* 2011 NCAA Second Team All-American (Triple Jump)
* Three-Time Big Ten Medalist

Bianca Fung
* Two-Time NCAA Qualifier (Long Jump)
* NCAA Provisional Qualifier

Jay Pagana
* Three-Time NCAA Regional Qualifier
* PSU McCoy Award Winner (Top GPA by student athlete)
* ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District

Tracy Partain (Missouri State)
* 2006 NCAA Runner-Up (Heptathlon)
* Two-Time NCAA All-American
* Five-Time Missouri Valley Conference Champion

Fabian Florant (Missouri State)
* 2006 NCAA All-American
* Three-Time Missouri Valley Conference Champion

Greg Hughes (Missouri State)
* Two-Time NCAA All-American
* Four-Time Missouri Valley Conference Champion

Fritz Spence is in his sixth year coaching the Nittany Lion jumpers and multi-event athletes, after four outstanding years in Happy Valley. In his first five years with the Nittany Lions, Spence has overseen 11 All-America efforts, including Gayle Hunter, who claimed a total of nine All-America certificates under Spence's watch.
Spence oversaw a breakout year from Hanif Johnson in 2011, with the junior claiming bronze-medal finishes at both Big Ten Championship competitions, and qualifying for the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Johnson posted a career-best leap of 51-8.50 (15.76) during the outdoor season, which stands as the fifth-best jump in school history.

Spence's athletes were outstanding at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships, scoring podium finishes in all four horizontal events. Along with Johnson's bronze-medal finish in the triple jump, junior Doug Moppert added a third-place finish in the men's long jump, while Tanaya Lloyd claimed runner-up status in the women's triple jump, and Bianca Fung posted a third-place finish in the women's long jump.
Spence also guided a healthy contingent of Nittany Lions to NCAA First Round, including Johnson, Moppert, Lloyd, and Fung, along with high jump standouts Kelsey Couts and Erika Morgan, who both recorded clearances of 5-8.50 (1.74) on the season.

Indoors, Spence coached conference scoring performances by a quartet of athletes on the women's side, with Lloyd finishing fifth in the triple jump, Fung and Morgan placing fifth and eighth, respectively, in the high jump, and freshman Brittney Howell taking sixgth in the pentathlon, and seventh in the long jump.

2009 was a banner year for Spence and the Nittany Lion jumps squad with a trio of Lions qualifying for the 2009 NCAA Outdoor Championships, including Smith in the triple jump, Hunter in the heptathlon and long jump, and first-time NCAA qualifier Bianca Fung in the long jump. Indoors, Spence guided Hunter to a runner-up finish in the pentathlon - which tied the highest ever finish by a Nittany Lion at NCAA Indoor - while also overseeing Hunter's school record leap of 20-11.25 (6.38) in the long jump during the multi-event competition. At the regional level, Spence led a total of five athletes to appearances at the NCAA East Regional Championships, including Hunter in the long jump, triple jump, and 100-meter hurdles, Fung in the long jump, and Smith, along with teammates Jay Pagana, and Johnson, in the triple jump.

Throughout the year, Hunter set a trio of school records under Spence's watch, scoring 4342 to reset her own pentathlon mark, and posting a total of 5797 to better her own school standard in the heptathlon. Hunter would also earn Mid-Atlantic Region Field Athlete of the Year honors during the indoor and outdoor seasons under Spence's watch.
On the Big Ten stage, Spence guided Smith to triple jump titles at both the indoor and outdoor conference championships, while leading his men's triple jumpers to a one-three-four showing at the outdoor conference meet. Indoors, Spence-coached athletes recorded a total of four scoring performances, while adding another four outdoors.
On the women's side, Spence led Hunter to top three finishes in the indoor pentathlon, and outdoor heptathlon, as well as scoring finishes in the indoor long and triple jumps, as well as the outdoor triple jump. Overall, Spence also oversaw a total of six top-eight scoring finishes in the women's events during the Big Ten Indoor Championships, and four during the outdoor conference meet.

In 2008, Spence led Hunter to a handful of All-America finishes, including fifth-place efforts in the NCAA pentathlon and heptathlon, as well as a fifth-place standing in the outdoor long jump. On the men's side, Spence saw Smith to an All-America finish and a Big Ten title in the triple jump. Spence's efforts were decidedly noteworthy, as he was named Mid-Atlantic Men's Assistant Coach of the Year during both the indoor and outdoor seasons.

Spence's athletes proved to be a big part of Penn State's scoring effort at the 2008 Big Ten Indoor Championships including a silver-medal finish from Taylor in the men's long jump, and bronze-medal standings from Hunter in the pentathlon, long jump, and triple jump. Spence's contingent was just as successful at the outdoor conference meet, including a two-three-four finish in the triple jump from Smith, Taylor, and Pagana, while the Penn State women provided four scoring finishes, led by Bettis in third.

During his first year in Happy Valley, Spence led Hunter to NCAA appearances in the pentathlon indoors and heptathlon outdoors, where she posted an eighth-place finish, earning All-America honors.

Prior to coming to Penn State, Spence coached 14 conference champions, 26 all-conference performers, 22 regional qualifiers, 10 NCAA qualifiers, and three All-Americans at Missouri State. Spence, who was named NCAA Women's Outdoor Track and Field Mideast Region Assistant Coach of the Year for Jumps/Combined Events in 2006, was a part of a coaching staff that won four Missouri Valley Conference Team Championships in both the indoor (2003 and '04) and outdoor (2002 and '03) seasons. The team also finished three times as the conference runner-up for the team championship (indoor 2002, outdoor 2004 and '06).