The University of Southern Indiana’s Mary Ballinger has been selected as the Great Lakes Valley Conference Women’s Runner of the Week. The junior led her team to victory at the Stegemoller Classic, held at their home course in Evansville, Ind.

Ballinger won the race with a time of 14:20. She ran ahead of the pack and finished 29 seconds faster than the second place finisher.

Her efforts helped the Screaming Eagles claim the team crown with a final score of 18 as USI runners corralled five of the top six times.

Ballinger picked up exactly where she left off from last season. She earned All-America honors last year, finishing seventeenth at the NCAA Division-II Nationals. Ballinger finished third at the Great Lakes Regional and fourth at the 2007 GLVC championship meet.

Southern Indiana will return to racing Friday, Sept. 19 at the Indiana Intercollegiates in Bloomington, Ind.

Other top performers in the GLVC last week included Lewis University’s sophomore Katheryn Hague.