Southern Indiana’s Mary Ballinger most recently won the GLVC/MIAA challenge and finished 14^th at the Greater Louisville Invitational. She is an All American in cross country and the 2009 3,000 meter steeplechase champion. DII Review caught up with her after her win.

DII Review : This is your senior year; you are coming back after finishing 10 last year at XC Nationals and winning the steeplechase outdoors last year.  What are your goals and how does this affect your goals for the season?
Mary Ballinger: I have a few goals for this season. One would be for our team to qualify for nationals and place in the top 5. Individually, I want to have fun and enjoy my last college cross season and improve on my placing from last year. I would like to compete with the top girls for the title. Since winning nationals in the steeple, a few things have changed for me. I am very confident with my training and other parts of life now. Our Assistant coach Tristan Mannix has been very influential in that aspect. It also helped me realize that patience does payoff. A national title had been one of my goals for a long time and it was nice that it finally worked out!

 

DIIR: How do you gear up for the fall cross country season-what is your summer training like?
MB: To gear up for cross country I did mostly base mileage this summer. It was a bit different because I wasn't working for once; I was traveling around the country, so I was always running somewhere new. I was in over 20 states so I got to explore the scenery and really got back to basics with my running. It was a truly enjoyable experience...I guess you could say I fell in love with running again. I stayed around 60 miles a week for most of the summer. I ran a great 10k at the end of July and really surprised myself for not having done any hard running yet.  My coach didn't have me doing any specific workouts until August. I just ran on feel. He has done a wonderful job at making sure I don't run myself into the ground with workouts and mileage. Longevity is key.  

 

DIIR: What is a typical training cycle or week for you?
MB: A typical training week would include an interval session (400s, 800s, or 1200s) or hills on Tuesday, Wednesdays are our medium long days, Friday/Saturday could be a long progressive tempo (usually 4 miles) or a race.  Sundays are always long runs. The rest of the days are easy runs. We incorporate a lot of drills and core work on certain days of the week.

DIIR: Are you excited about your school hosting Nationals?
MB: I am very excited that USI is hosting nationals, I think we all are. It is a tough course, but I think people really like it because it is scenic, muddy most of the time and not just a fast golf course. We run on some part of the course about every day. We did hill repeats last week on the main hills of the course. That is a great advantage for us. It is amusing to me that DI and DII nationals are less than 2 hours away from each other. That is pretty neat.

 

DIIR:Would you prefer to run steeplechase or cross country?
MB: Both cross country and the steeplechase are two of my favorite things, so I would say that I love whichever one is in season at the time more.

 

DIIR:How do you transition from cross country into the track season?
MB: The transition from cross country to track can be interesting because weather affects much of my running during that time of the year. I try to avoid the treadmill if at all possible, so I learned that slip on spikes for my running shoes are invaluable to me. My house is right on Lake Michigan so there is a lot of lake effect snow/ice/wind. I remember this run over Christmas break last year where it was like -20 some degrees and just ice everywhere. You couldn't really drive but I was out there on the road running with these spikes and layers of clothes just thinking how ridiculous it was. Thankfully it's not like that all the time.  For workouts, Coach Hillyard usually had me do a lot of short fartlek work. Tempo runs were in there weekly.

 

DIIR: How did you start steeplechasing?
MB: The story of how I got into the steeplechase is kind of wierd. My freshman year I ran at a DI school and we were at Florida State for our first outdoor meet. My coach told me I was running the steeplechase the next day and I was excited, except for the fact that I had never seen it or knew what it was! I saw my first barrier that night and learned how to jump over one in the grass. I ran it the next day and fell twice in the water (last time I have fallen though) and to this day that is still the hardest race I have ever run. I finished it bloody and soaked, but I was hooked. The steeple is so much fun.

 

DIIR: Do you have any crazy steeplechase stories involving the barriers or waterpit?
MB: Other than the above story I haven't had anything too crazy happen with the steeple, but I have a story from last cross country season. I was on an easy run with one of the boys on my team, David DeLong.  We were finishing up our run and ran past the baseball field.  David and I were busy talking about something and didn't hear the yells of "heads up" coming from the field. So I get pegged in the inside of my right thigh by this foul ball. It hit me so hard I fell to the ground screaming because of pain, but mostly of shock.  The ball hit hard. It would have been nice if it would of come through the air maybe a millisecond beforehand and hit the ground, but I am just glad it didn't hit bone, because it would've broken one of those pretty easily. I had a bruise for about a month that took up my entire thigh. It kind of ruined that week. It's funny to me now, but you could say that I am not exactly friends with that baseball player.

 

DIIR:What is the best piece of running advice anyone has ever given you?
MB: The best advice always comes from my mom. She has driven to so many of my meets and always tells me to "have fun." She's been telling me that since 6th grade. It's a good reminder to simply run the race, enjoy it and not think too much beyond that. 

Conference is less than two weeks away and marks the start of post-season racing.  This past weekend, many teams raced their last race of their regular season to test their strength and see if they can improve their weaknesses in time for the conference championships. This week, I have decided to structure the DII Review a little differently and I am taking a page out of David Williams’ book who writes the DI weekly round-up. I am going to take the top ten teams on both the men’s and women’s side based on the rankings the week before and see how they perform the weekend after. As usual, I like thoughtful critique, so suggestions are welcomed just leave a comment. Please tell me if this new format works for you.

Men’s teams (Rankings as of October 7, 2009)

1.      (1)  Adams State
Weekend performance: Did not race
Analysis: After a strong race two weekends ago, finishing third at the Cowboy Jamboree, Adams State is off until the RMAC championships.

2.      (2)  Western State
Weekend performance: Did not race
Analysis: Western State finished fifth at the Cowboy Jamboree two weekends ago and will race again at the RMAC championships

3.      (4) Chico State
Weekend performance: Chico sent a team of their usual non-scorers to the San Francisco State Invitational. This team finished fourth overall with 108 points behind Alaska Anchorage (52), Western Oregon (56) and Humbolt State (58)
Analysis:  Chico showed that they had depth by racing a five man squad. They showed plenty of strength winning the Williamette Invite two weekends ago. They will race again at CCAA championships.

4.      (3) Grand Valley State
Weekend performance:  Grand Valley(55 points) finished second at the Michigan Intercollegiates behind Michigan (32 points).  
Analysis: Sophomore Tyler Emmorey had a very strong race finishing second and covering the 8k course in 25:09. Grand Valley is the favorite heading into GLIAC Championships were they will be racing next.

5.      (5) Queens
Weekend performance:  Did not race this weekend.
Analysis: At the Greater Louisville Classic, Queen’s showed that their ranking was not a fluke, placing seventh among some great competition. Queens' next race will be October 16th at Appalachian State University for the Blue Ridge Open

6.      (6) Abilene Christian
Weekend performance: Abilene Christian raced at their home meet-Results have yet to be posted
Analysis:

7.      (7) Colorado School of the Mines
Weekend performance: The team finished first at the Fort Haynes Tiger Open with 21 points. Ben Zywicki finished second with the time of 24:18.45
Analysis:  CSM have yet to lose a meet this year but this will most likely come to an end when they race at the RMAC championships against Western and Adams State.

8.      (8)  Western Washington
Weekend performance: Western Washington won their home meet with 23 point at this low key meet. Jordan Welling won the 10k race in 31:41.
Analysis:  Western Washington place well two weekends ago at the Sundodger Invite coming in second with 84 points and defeated Alaska Anchorage. They appear to be the favorites for GNAC Championships.

9.      (9)  Stonehill
Weekend performance: Stonehill (235 points) took 5^th at the New England Championships. 12 ranked UMass-Lowell took the team title with 93 points that will surely move them up this week’s poll.
Analysis: Stonehill had a very good performance at Pre-Nats earlier this season but seemed to have faltered this week against UMass-Lowell. Their next race will be at their conference championships.

10.  (11)  Southern Indiana
Weekend performance: Southern Indiana took fourth place at the GLVC-MIAA challenge resting sixth of their top eight runners. Missouri Southern took the top spot with 53 points.
Analysis: After two successful weeks of racing placing second at Pre Nationals and 11^th at the Greater Louisville classic, Southern Indiana took this week to have their top runners fully rested for GLVC championships.

Other Notes: Harding’s Daniel Kirwa won his home meet covering the 8k course in 26:24.17 with little competition.

 

Women’s team

1.      (3) Chico State
Weekend performance: Chico sent a team absent of their top ten runners to the San Francisco State Invitational. The Wildcats finished second with 81 points behind Alaska Anchorage who perfect scored to win the meet with 15 points.
Analysis:  Chico was smart resting their top ten runners and only showed their depth by racing the rest of the squad. If they had race their top runners it surely would have been a closer race for the team title against Alaska Anchorage.   

2.      (2) Grand Valley State
Weekend performance: Grand Valley took home a first-place finish at the Michigan Intercollegiates with 16 points.
Analysis: Megan Maceranti won the individual title with a time of 17:58 over the 5k course. Grand Valley is looking to be a very strong squad though not racing anyone of any significance this past weekend. They will be racing next at the GLIAC championships.

3.      (7) Missouri Southern State
Weekend performance: Missouri Southern State placed first with 23 points at the GLVC-MIAA challenge over Southern Indiana (50 points) and Truman State (68 points). Senior Kimi Shank was second in 17:42.1 behind Southern Indiana’s Mary Ballenger (17:33.3) in the 5k race.
Analysis: Missouri Southern keeps running well after placing 5^th at the Cowboy Jamboree two weeks ago and place higher to Adams State. They will race next at the MIAA championships.

4.      (1) Adams State
Weekend performance: Did not race
Analysis: They dropped out of the top spot last week after finishing sixth at the Cowboy Jamboree behind Missouri Southern State. Adams State’s next race will be the RMAC championships.

5.      (5) Alaska Anchorage
Weekend performance: Alaska Anchorage perfect scored at the San Francisco State Invitational against a second string Chico State team.
Analysis: Alaska Anchorage showed that they are ready to make a run for the GLIAC conference title but will have to compete against a full strength Chico State team.

6.      (4) Shippensburg
Weekend performance: Did not race this week.
Analysis: Their number one, Neely Spence won the Paul Short Invite last week but the team only finished 23^rd.  They will compete next at the Gettysburg Invite.

7.      (8) Western Washington
Weekend performance: They won the collegiate title with 39 points at their home meet. Sarah Porter won the 6k race in 21:10.
Analysis: Earlier in the season, Western Washington defeated Seattle Pacific who placed 5^th last year at DII Nationals at the Sundodger Invitational.

8.      (9) Tampa
Weekend performance: Tampa took third at the FSU Invite with 76 points behind Stephen F. Austin (40 points)  and Florida State “b” ( 50 points)
Analysis: Tampa has not place lower then 3^rd at any meet this season. They took top honors at Pre Nationals. They will next compete at the Sunshine Conference Championships.

9.      (10) Augustana (South Dakota)
Weekend performance: Augustana placed second at the Central Pre-Regional meet behind University of Mary with 57 points.
Analysis: Augustana has had a very solid season placing third at the Roy Griak Invitational and second at the Willamette Invitational. They will next compete at the NSIC championships.

10.  (15) Mesa State
Weekend performance:  Did not compete as a team.
Analysis: Mesa State has been silently rising through the ranks by taking first at Western State open and then coming in as the first non-DI team at the Rocky Mountain Shoot-out. They will compete next at the RMAC Championships.

Other Notes: Seattle Pacific’s Jessica Pixler and Jane Larson ran to a 1-2 finish at the San Francisco State Invitational. Pixler covered the 6k course in 20:36.