Overall
Became the third female student-athlete in the program's history to win a national championship when she finished first in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the 2009 NCAA II Outdoor Championships...finished fifth at the NCAA II Cross Country Championships after capturing the GLVC individual title and earning GLVC Runner of the Year accolades in 2009...has earned nine All-America awards and six All-GLVC honors in two seasons at USI...was named the 2009 Midwest Region Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year by the USTFCCCA...was named the 2010 GLVC Indoor Track Athlete of the Year...was named the GLVC Scholar Athlete of the Year for Cross Country in 2009...was named the USI/Integra Bank Female Student Athlete of the Year in 2008-09 and 2009-10...won a total of nine GLVC individual titles as well as a GLVC relay championship.
2009-10
COMBINED: Earned first-team ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-District V honors and was named the USI/Integra Bank Female Student-Athlete of the Year for the second straight season. CROSS COUNTRY: Earned All-America honors for the third straight season when she finished fifth at the NCAA II Championships...the finish eclipsed her previous school record for the highest finish by a women's runner in school history...earned GLVC Runner of the Year honors when she captured the GLVC title, becoming the third women's cross country runner in school history to capture a conference title...earned All-GLVC honors for her efforts...garnered All-Midwest Region accolades after finishing second at the NCAA II Midwest Region Championships...was USI's top runner in all seven meets, recording three first-place finishes...named the GLVC Female Runner of the Week after winning the Stegemoller Classic...earned GLVC Scholar Athlete of the Year honors as well as Academic All-GLVC accolades for the third straight season. INDOOR TRACK: Earned All-America honors after finishing eighth in the mile at the NCAA II Championships...was named the GLVC Indoor Track Athlete of the Year after winning the mile and the 3,000 meters and finishing second in the 5,000 meters at the GLVC Championships...also earned first-team All-GLVC honors for her efforts...ran an NCAA II automatic qualifying time of 4:53.53 in the mile at the Indiana Relays and hit a provisional mark with her season-best time of 17:02.56 in the 5,000 meters at the GVSU Big Meet...recorded three first-place finishes during the indoor season and was named the GLVC Female Track Athlete of the Week three times...was USI's top performer in the 800 meters, the mile, the 3,000 meters, and the 5,000 meters...also competed on USI's distance medley relay team. OUTDOOR TRACK: Earned All-America honors after finishing third in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the NCAA II Championships...her season-best time of 10:23.10 in the finals of the steeplechase was just .12 seconds off her school-record pace she set to win the national championship in the event in 2009...also earned first-team All-GLVC honors after capturing the GLVC title in the steeplechase...also finished fourth in the 1,500 meters and 14th in the 400-meter hurdles at the GLVC Championships...in addition to the automatic qualifying time in the steeplechase, Ballinger recorded an NCAA II provisional mark in the 5,000 meters...was USI's top competitor in the steeplechase, the 1,500 meters, and the 5,000 meters...finished first in two races and was named the GLVC Female Track Athlete of Week once...earned Academic All-GLVC honors for the third straight year.
2008-09
COMBINED: Named the 2008-09 USI/Integra Bank Female Student-Athlete of the Year. CROSS COUNTRY: Became the first female runner in school history to earn All-America honors in back-to-back seasons when she finished 10th at the NCAA II Championships...finish was the highest national finish by a women's runner in school history...earned All-Region honors after finishing fourth at the NCAA II Midwest Region Championships...also garnered All-GLVC honors with her second-place finish at the GLVC Championships...was USI's top runner in every meet during her junior season...named the GLVC Female Runner of the Week in August...won two meets, including the Stegemoller Classic and the UE Invitational...earned Academic All-GLVC honors. INDOOR TRACK: Earned All-America honors in both the 5,000 meters as well as the distance medley relay...finished third in the 5,000 meters at the NCAA II Championships and helped USI's DMR squad to a fifth-place showing at the national meet...earned first-team All-GLVC honors after finishing first in the mile and second in the 3,000 meters at the GLVC Championships...posted provisional qualifying times in the mile three times and hit the automatic qualifying time in the 5,000 meters when she won the GVSU Big Meet...posted three first-place finishes...set the school-record in both the 3,000 and 5,000 meters. OUTDOOR TRACK: Became the third student-athlete in the program's history to win a national championship when she finished first in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the NCAA II Championships with a school-record time of 10:22.98...time was less than three seconds off the meet record...earned All-America honors for her performance in the steeplechase at the NCAA II meet...named the NCAA II Midwest Region Track Athlete of the Year...earned first-team All-GLVC honors after winning the steeplechase and the 3,000 meters at the GLVC Championships...shattered the school record in the steeplechase with her first-place effort at the Mt. SAC Relays...finished first in five of the six races she competed in during the regular season...posted automatic qualifying times twice in the steeplechase and once in the 1,500 meters...was named the GLVC Female Track Athlete of the Week twice...earned Academic All-GLVC honors.
2007-08
OVERALL: Earned All-America honors in cross country and indoor track (5,000 meter)...earned All-Great Lakes Region honors in cross country...earned All-GLVC honors in cross country and was a first-team All-Conference performer in both indoor and outdoor track...was Academic All-GLVC in both cross country and track...finished first a combined seven times. CROSS COUNTRY: Earned All-America honors in her first season at USI after finishing 17th at the NCAA II Championships with a season-best 6k time of 21:20.10...her 6k time ranks third all-time at USI in the event...earned All-Great Lakes Region honors after finishing third with a 6k time of 21:37.28...also earned All-GLVC honors after placing fourth at the GLVC Championships with a 6k time of 22:01.44...placed first at the Millikin Fast Times Challenge and was third at the Stegemoller Classic...ran the 5k in a season-best 18:18.25 at Indiana Intercollegiate, finishing second in the Little State competition and eighth overall...earned Academic All-GLVC honors. INDOOR TRACK: Earned All-America honors after finishing second in the 5,000 meters with a season-best time of 17:11.21 at the NCAA II Championships...her 5,000-meter time ranks her third all-time at USI in the Indoor 5,000 meters, while her season-best time of 10:16.29 in the 3,000 meters at the Indiana Relays ranks her fourth at USI...earned first-team All-GLVC honors after winning the 5,000 meters and finishing second in the 3,000 meters at the GLVC Championships...also helped USI's distance medley relay team to a first-place finish and season-best time of 12:15.20 at the GLVC Championships...finished second in the mile with a season-best time of 5:13.70 at the DePauw Invitational...also was third in the 1,000 meters at the DePauw Invitational with a time of 3:08.61. OUTDOOR: Finished 10th in the finals of the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the NCAA II Championships after running the event in a season-best time of 10:46.82 in the prelims two days earlier...her time ranks her second all-time at USI...finished first in the steeplechase with a meet-record time of 10:57.15 and was second in the 3,000 meters with a season-best time of 10:11.19 at the GLVC Championships...earned first-team All-GLVC honors with the performance...ran USI's fastest 5,000-meter time of the outdoor season when she finished the event in 17:23.55 at the Hillsdale "Gina" Relays...ran the 1,500 meters in 4:48.56 at the Billy Hayes Invitational...earned Academic All-GLVC honors.
TRANSFER: Transferred from Indiana University/Purdue University-Ft. Wayne where she was one of the Mastodon's top runners as a freshman in 2006-07...was on the Dean's List as a freshman at IPFW. Cross Country: Was IPFW's number two runner in six meets and its top competitor in one meet...ran top five in all eight of IPFW's meets...finished a team-best 32nd with a season-best 6k time of 22 minutes, 15.38 seconds at the NCAA Division I Great Lakes Region Championships...was just 17 seconds and seven places shy of qualifying for the NCAA I National Championships as a freshman...recorded three top-10 finishes and was third overall to help IPFW to a first-place finish at the University of Dayton Flyer 5k. Indoor Track: Competed in the mile, 3,000 meters, and 5,000 meters...ran the 5,000 meters in 18:41.00 at the Bowling Green Triangular...was sixth in the 3,000 meters with a season-best time of 10:27.96 at the Findlay Classic...was eighth in the mile with a season-best time of 5:21.04 at the Boilermaker Invitational. Outdoor Track: Broke IPFW's school-record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase when she finished second at the Butler Twilight with a time of 10:59.51...was first in the steeplechase at the Early Bird Relays with a time of 11:29.49...ran the 5,000 meters in 18:02.00 at the Oliver Nikoloff Invitational...also ran the 3,000 meters in 10:34.76 at the Hillsdale "Gina Relays"...helped IPFW's distance medley relay team to a second-place finish and a time of 12:38.34 at the Florida A&M Relays.
HIGH SCHOOL: Graduated from Chesterton High School (Chesterton, Indiana) where she was an eight-time All-Conference selection in cross country and track, as well as a seven-time All-State performer in cross country and track...set school records in the 3,200 meters, the 4,000 meters, and the 4x1,600 meter relay...was on the Principals Honor Roll.
