University of Southern Indiana’s Mary Ballinger (Chesterton, Ind./Chesterton High School) is the Great Lakes Valley Conference Women’s Outdoor Track Athlete of the Week.
Ballinger, a senior for the Screaming Eagles and defending NCAA Division II National Champion, ran a NCAA automatic qualifying time in the 3000-meter steeplechase last weekend at the Mt. SAC Relays. Running it in a time of 10:34.23, she was less than 12 seconds off the school-record which she set last year in the 2009 NCAA II Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
USI returns to action next weekend at the Hillsdale Relays, as well as the Bellarmine Invitational.
Other top performers in the GLVC last week included Lewis’ Julie Jarrett.