EVANSVILLE, Ind.—University of Southern Indiana women's cross country/track and field senior All-American Mary Ballinger was named to the ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-America second team for College Division Thursday. College Division includes institutions from NCAA Division II and III, NAIA, and NJCAA.

Ballinger, who becomes the first student-athlete in the cross country/track and field program's history to earn Academic All-America honors, was recently named the GLVC Scholar Athlete of the Year for women's track and field after earning first-team CoSIDA Academic All-District V honors.

A food and nutrition major with a 3.54 cumulative GPA, Ballinger is the 11th student-athlete in school history to earn CoSIDA Academic All-America honors—it is the 13th Academic All-America award in school history.

In 2009-10, Ballinger captured four GLVC individual titles, running her career total to nine. She also garnered three All-America awards to increase her career total to nine.

Ballinger, who also was the GLVC Scholar Athlete of the Year for cross country, was named the GLVC Runner of the Year after capturing the individual title at the GLVC Cross Country Championships. She also earned GLVC Indoor Track Athlete of the Year honors after winning a pair of individual titles at the GLVC Indoor Championships in February.

Last fall, Ballinger captured her third straight All-America award in cross country after finishing fifth at the NCAA II Cross Country Championships. She followed with an eighth-place finish in the mile at the NCAA II Indoor Championships in March before finishing her collegiate career with the third-place finish in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the NCAA II Outdoor Championships last month.

“Mary has been an amazing leader for our program, academically and athletically,” USI Head Coach Mike Hillyard said. “She deserves all the success that she has had as she has worked very hard for it.”

A nine-time GLVC Champion and All-GLVC performer Ballinger finished her three-year career at USI as one of the most decorated student-athletes in school history. She became the third female student-athlete in school history to win a national championship when she finished first in the steeplechase at the 2009 NCAA II Outdoor Championships.

In addition to her Academic All-America honor, Ballinger is a six-time Academic All-GLVC performer as well as a two-time USI/Integra Bank Female Student-Athlete of the Year. Ballinger, who has captured multiple All-Academic Awards from the USTFCCCA, also earned the GLVC Council of President's Academic Excellence award.