February 28, 2009
Ballinger leads Eagles to fourth-place finish at league meet
Complete Results
USI Results
CRAWFORDSVILLE, Ind.—Junior All-American Mary Ballinger (Chesterton, Indiana) helped lead the University of Southern Indiana women's track and field team to a fourth-place finish at the GLVC Indoor Championships this weekend.
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Mary Ballinger |
Ballinger edged out Lewis University's Kathryn Hague by less than a second to capture the title in the mile with a time of five minutes, 1.73 seconds. She also helped the Screaming Eagles' distance medley relay team to a third-place finish and was second in the 3,000 meters.
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Allison Shafer |
As a team, the Eagles had nine top-five finishes and racked up 74 points. Junior
Allison Shafer (Plainville, Indiana) placed third in the 5,000 meters and fifth in the 3,000 meters to aid the Eagles' effort.
Junior
Lacy Williams (Haubstadt, Indiana) also helped the Eagles' DMR before finishing fourth in the mile and seventh in the 800 meters.
Freshman
Holly Bartelt (Huntingburg, Indiana) was third in the mile, while fellow classmates
Adrienne Curtis (Louisville, Kentucky) and
Jackie Henderson (Schererville, Indiana) rounded out the Eagles' top-five individual performances with fourth and fifth-place efforts in the 5,000 meters, respectively. Henderson also was sixth in the 3,000 meters while Curtis placed seventh in the 3,000 meters.
USI will likely send four competitors to the NCAA II Indoor Championships, which are March 13-14 in Houston, Texas.
In addition to Ballinger, who ranks third in the nation in the 5,000 meters with her NCAA II automatic qualifying time of 16 minutes, 45.35 seconds, USI's DMR squad is sixth in the country with its provisional time of 11 minutes, 53.86 seconds. Joining Ballinger and Williams on the DMR squad is senior
Christy Dixon (Owensboro, Kentucky) and junior
Lauren Crick (Evansville, Indiana).
Dan McDonnell,
USI Sports Information
