The University of Southern Indiana’s Mary Ballinger (Chesteron, Ind.) is the Great Lakes Valley Conference Women’s Cross Country Runner of the Week. Ballinger, a sophomore runner for the Eagles, paced her team to a 17th-place finish in the Gold competition of the Greater Louisville Classic on Saturday.

Ballinger finished in 32nd place overall in the 5,000-meter event. She completed the course in a time of 18:20.49 and was the top USI runner in the field of 239 runners.

Her efforts helped the 25th-ranked Eagles post a team score of 429 in the 28-team event. The University of Kentucky won the meet with a final score of 55.

Ballinger and the Eagles will return to action at the Millikin Challenge in Decatur, Illinois on Friday.