Carroll Montana

Carroll gets first three commitments for 2010

  Carroll College Head Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Coach Bill Ballinger is pleased to announced the first new signees for the 2010 cross country recruiting class.

The Saints signed three out-of-state runners for next year’s squad: Rhianna Grossman of Couer d’Alene, Idaho; Dennis Leigh of Issaquah, Washington; and Eric Blake of Geneva, Illinois.

While attending Lake City High School in Couer d’Alene, Rhianna Grossman lettered seven times, competed on four regional championship teams, and was named the team MVP her senior year.  “Rhianna has competed at a high level in high school. She comes from a program that has won four consecutive regional championships.  She will add some needed depth to our women’s cross country squad,” said Coach Ballinger. Grossman maintains a 3.9 GPA and is planning on studying nursing while attending Carroll.

Dennis Leigh was a three-time varsity letter winner in cross country at Issaquah High School in Washington.  He earned All-Conference & All-District honors his senior year and finished 33^rd at the 4-A state championship.  Coach Ballinger said that “Dennis comes from a high school program that consistently competes very well in arguably one of the toughest leagues in the nation.  He knows how to compete and understands what it takes for a team to do well.  We are excited to have him joining us next year.”  Leigh maintains a 3.4 GPA and is planning on studying engineering at Carroll College

Eric Blake attends Geneva High School in Illinois and was an Academic All-Conference winner this past season with a 3.65 GPA. Eric has also been awarded a 5 year Army ROTC nursing scholarship to Carroll College. “Eric is a tremendous student and a solid athlete,” commented Coach Ballinger, “Carroll is fortunate to have him involved in both our athletic and our Army ROTC program.” 

Carroll College has also recently announced the addition of indoor and outdoor Track and Field to their athletic programs.  “Having indoor and outdoor track & field for 2010 has generated a lot of interest in our cross-country program….this will definitely help our program advance competitively,” Coach Ballinger says.

The running Saints look to have a few more additions to this signing class within the next few weeks.  

Carroll Racing Saints excel in classroom

The Carroll College Racing Saints Cross Country athletes had an academically  strong Fall 2009 Semester according to Head Coach Bill Ballinger.  The Women’s squad maintained a cumulative 3.41 GPA while the Men’s squad earned a 3.2.  Combined, the Cross Country program earned a 3.32 GPA out of a 4.0 scale.  Five individual Racing Saints earned perfect 4.0 GPAs:

Andy Burns, Junior, Psychology, Bozeman MT, second consecutive semester 4.0

Elysia Andrews, Junior, Nursing, Kalispell MT, fifth consecutive semester 4.0

Tom Murgel, Junior, Nursing and Army ROTC, , Helena MT, second consecutive semester 4.0

Hannah Bauthues, Junior, Marketing and Communications, Nooksack Valley, Washington

Jacey Stahlberg,  Senior, Biology / Pre-Med, Kalispell MT.

“I’m very proud our XC athletes and their academic accomplishments…they’ve figured out how to balance tough academics with their athletic commitments.”, commented Coach Ballinger.  “Generally speaking…students who participate in collegiate athletics also excel in the classroom….as our XC athletes demonstrate.”

Three Racing Saint’s named NAIA Scholar – Athletes

Three members of the Racing Saint’s Cross Country team have been named 2009 Daktronic Scholar-Athletes by the NAIA. Qualification requires a minimum 3.5 cumulative grade-point averages and junior academic standing. The three athletes are:

Ms. Elysia Andrew, Junior, 4.0 GPA in Nursing, from Kalispell, Montana. Her parents are John and Amy Andrews.

Mr. Andy Burns, 3.9 in Psychology, from Bozeman, Montana. His parents are Jill Schaunaman and Paul Burns.

Ms. Hannah Bauthues, 3.67 in Communications Management, from Nooksack Washington, her parents are Larry and Charlene Bauthues. Hannah also was named the Racing Saint Women’s “Champion of Character” by the Conference Commissioner at the Frontier Conference Championships earlier this month.

“Doing well academically is just as important as performing in competition, we are very proud of these outstanding student-athlete’s ability to balance the demands of athletics with tough Carroll classes.” Commented head coach Bill Ballinger. “This is the most student’s we’ve had earn this award in the short three year history of Cross Country at Carroll College.”

Carroll's Greene fifth at Frontier championships

Saints earn Champion of Character Awards

Carroll Racing Saint juniors Hannah Bauthues (Nooksack, Washington) and Tommy Sullivan (Woodinville, Washington) were announced as the 2009 Carroll Cross Country Champion of Character Award winners during the 2009 Frontier Conference championships last Friday in Salt Lake City, Utah.   The award goes to a male and female athlete on each team who best exemplifies the character values of integrity, respect, responsibility, sportsmanship and servant leadership. The awards were presented by the Frontier Conference Athletic Commissioner, Kent Paulson.

Green paces Carroll women at Lewiston cross country meet

LEWISTON, Idaho - Senior runner Jamie Green placed 10th overall and the Carroll College women's cross country team finished third out of six teams at the Lewis-Clark State College Invitational in Hells Gate State Park on Saturday.

"If this had been the conference championships Jamie would have qualified for nationals," Carroll head coach Bill Ballinger said. "There is about four women that are capable of qualifying (at the Frontier Conference Championships) and are fighting for position. She's one of them. Last year she wasn't even close to nationals, so it's exciting to see her in that position."  Story

Carroll Runners Make Strides At LCSC Classic

The Carroll College women's Cross Country team had their best outing in the three year history of the program last weekend. The Carroll women had four runners finish in under 20 minutes for the 5K.  Meanwhile on the men's side junior Taylor Gregory ran nearly a minute faster this year at 26:46 then he did last year on the same course.

The women finished the day in third place while the men finished fifth. (results attached)

LCSC Classic Results

Carroll's Greene runs personal best

MOSCOW, Idaho - Carroll College sophomore Jamie Greene ran a personal best time of 19 minutes, 28.47 seconds to finish 28 th in the women's competition at the Inland Nothwest Cross Country Challenge on Saturday.

Running the 5 kilometer course on the University of Idaho golf course, Greene was the only Carroll runner to finish in the top 30.  Story

Cold temperatures don't slow Carroll's women

BILLINGS - The Carroll College women's cross country team finished fourth Saturday at the Yellowjacket Invitational on a frigid day of competition.

The Saints men finished in seventh place at Riverfront Park, but were missing three of their top five runners to illness and injury.

Carroll's top women's finisher was Jamie Greene, whose time of 19 minutes, 15 seconds was good enough for eighth place in the 5K race.  Story

Carroll women top field at cross country meet

The Carroll College women's cross-country team edged out Westminster for the team title and the Saints' men finished second in Saturday morning's Carroll Open. Carroll's women finished with 36 points to edge out Westminster with 41, even though the Saints were scoring without top harrier Jade Johnstone, who ran unattached. Carroll's men finished with 29 points to Rocky Mountain College's 26. Both were 5-kilometer races.

Rocky's Amber Watson won the individual title in 19 minutes, four seconds. Amanda Theobald finished second in 19:22, 41 seconds ahead of Johnstone in third.

"At the one-mile mark, from what I saw, Westminster was beating us," Saints head coach Bill Ballinger said. "But between the 1- and 2-mile mark, we put ourselves in position to beat them." "Westminster doesn't have a big team, but they have a very good team."

The Saints' top scorer was Jamie Greene, who placed fourth in 20:26, while Carroll put its fifth runner in at 12th place. Story and Results

Carroll Opens Season with Time Trial

Carroll College Racing Saints Cross Country began their 2009 Competitive Season with a intersquad time trial on Saturday, September 5th at Rimini Road.  “Basically we needed to practice getting our racing mind set put together.  We rehearsed everything we do before meets, including having a team dinner before, our pre-meet work outs, and pre race warm up strategies.  I told the athletes this was an XC version of a football full contact scrimmage,” said third year Head Coach Bill Ballinger.

Leading the women’s squad was senior Jade Johnstone whose three mile time was 19:47 followed closely by freshman Shanna Burke at 19:58.  Rounding out the Saints top five were Sophomore Jamie Greene (20:08), Senior Jacey Stahlberg (20:09), and senior Abby Feeback (20:53).  “I’m extremely happy with our top four, once we g

et our fifth runner up a bit we will be looking strong in our conference.    It’ll come together as the season progresses.  Abby has made some nice improvements this season.   Shanna Burke was a great surprise…she’s been battling a sore knee and ran with some toughness today.”

The men ran four miles, about a mile short of their typical 5 mile racing distance.  “The men have been hitting nearly 60 miles a week so we didn’t want to push them too much at this point.  We were happy with their performances today.”  The Racing Saint’s Men were led by returning All-Conference junior Taylor Gregory who led from the start and finished the flat course in 22:30.  Second went to freshmen Caleb Dietz (22:54).  “We had Spokane guys (Gregory, Dietz, Utsey, Depledge) who trained together all summer long…you can really tell by how well they ran today.  Zach Depledge has also shown a huge improvement in strength from last year.”

The Saints will face their first full competition September 19th in Bozeman at the MSU invite where they will compete against a combination of NCAA DI, DII, and fellow NAIA teams.  “The cool thing about XC is that we get a chance to run against big NCAA programs and NAIA programs at the same time.  It’s fun seeing how well we do against the varied levels of program.” Said Ballinger.  The Saints will host the third annual Carroll Open on Saturday September 26th.  The Men’s Race will start at 10:00 am, the women at 10:30 am at the Carroll Athletic Center.  Visiting teams include; Westminster and Rocky Mountain College.

Women’s Results               Men’s Results               
Jade Johnstone 19:47          Taylor Gregory 22:30
Shanna Burke 19:58             Caleb Dietz 22:54
Jamie Greene 20:08             Ryan Utsey 23:30
Jacey Stahlberg 20:09          Fred Collins 23:42
Abby Feeback 20:53             Tommy Sullivan 23:43
Arial Murtagh 20:59               Zach Depledge 23:44
Katlyn Valerio 21:03              Andy Burns 23:45
Hannah Bauthues 21:08       Tom Murgel 24:49
Elysia Andrews 21:22
Tara Higgins 22:22
Hillary Jackson 22:23
Nicole Demsher 22:23
Caitlin Amundsen 23:32
Maggie Staniec 24:23
Kellie Howard 25:28
Justine Bates 29:04

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Cross-Country Questionnaire

Interested in running for Carroll? Fill out this questionnaire, send it in, and let Coach Ballinger know that you're serious about playing for the Saints!

Coach Ballinger
406-461-9008 (cell)
bballinger -is-at- carroll -dot- edu
Feel free to call during evening hours!