The University of Southern Indiana’s Mary Ballinger (Chesterton, Ind.) is the Great Lakes Valley Conference Women’s Outdoor Track Athlete of the Week.

Ballinger, a sophomore runner for the Eagles, broke the meet record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the SEMOtion Relays on Saturday. It was her season debut in the event.

Ballinger finished the event in a time of 10:48.49, a NCAA Division II automatic qualifying mark. She exceeded the automatic qualifying standard by 11.50 seconds.

USI will next compete at the Indiana Intercollegiate Championships this weekend in Indianapolis.

Other top performers in the GLVC last week included Bellarmine’s Katie Hickey, Lewis’ Terran Wertz, SIU Edwardsville’s Juliet Alrich and UIndy’s LeAnn Sarka.