cross-country
Carroll’s Taylor Gregory Heading to NAIA XC Championships
Carroll sophomore Taylor Gregory became the first Cross Country athlete in Carroll history to qualify for the NAIA Championships last week. He will compete Saturday at the Dr. Wayne E. Dannehl Cross Country Course in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Gregory was the top individual qualifier from the Frontier Conference Championship, where he placed 6th overall and covered the hilly 8 K course in 26:27. The top three individual runners, who were not on a qualifying team, advance to Nationals. The other two slots were filled by UGF’s Shane Donaldson and Jared Reyes.
“Tactically, Taylor ran and outstanding race. He knew exactly what he needed to do in order to qualify as an individual. He stepped onto the starting line with a solid racing plan and pulled it off. He improved his course Personal Record by nearly 30 seconds in the process.” Said Head Coach Bill Ballinger.
This Racing Saints just completed their second season of Cross Country, with the Women’s Team earning a 2nd place finish and the men 3rd in final Conference Standings. LCSC won both races and advanced their teams to the National Championship.
“It will be nice to have some familiar faces on the starting line, this will give Taylor somebody to key off of during the race”. Concluded Ballinger.
Gregory leads Saints harriers at Frontier championship
Taylor Gregory has a strong shot at running in the NAIA national cross country race later this month.
The Saints sophomore finished sixth individually to lead his men to a third-place finish at the Frontier Conference championship in Lewiston, Idaho.
“It’s not official but he’s qualified, he’s going to nationals,” said Carroll head coach Bill Ballinger. “It was one of his better races.”
Gregory finished the 8-kilometer course in 26:27.21, just three seconds behind Lewis-Clark State’s No. 5 runner, Grant Eldridge. Story
Tradition’s first recruit
In a sport still so young at Carroll College that no one’s graduated from it, Jade Johnstone has established herself as a veteran.
The Saints’ junior cross-country runner is leading the women’s squad and has placed herself as one of the contenders to claim a berth in the NAIA national championship, Nov. 22 in Kenosha, Wis.
While Carroll’s team trails No. 13 Lewis-Clark State in the Frontier Conference standings and is unlikely to head to the national meet as a team, but individuals can still qualify at the Frontier Conference Regional meet, Nov. 8 in Lewiston, Idaho. Story
Saints show well at UM Invite
Both the Carroll College Men’s and Women’s Cross Country teams competed well against some larger programs this weekend at the UM Open meet in Missoula Montana. Participating teams included NCAA D1 powers Montana, Montana State, Eastern Washington, Washington State, and Gonzaga. The Non division I schools included MSU-Billings, Rocky Mountain College, and Carroll College.
According to head coach Bill Ballinger, both squad made significant strides in their competitiveness and are looking strong as they begin to focus on NAIA level competition for the rest of their season. Both the Men’s and Women’s Racing Saints squads scored against NCAA D1 Gonzaga and Eastern Washington.
Top finishers amongst the Men’s team were Taylor Gregory and Peter Fey. The Racing Saints top women’s runner was Jade Johnstone.
“Cross Country is a unique sport in that we have the opportunity to regularly compete against such large NCAA programs, I don’t know if any other Carroll sports teams have faced Washington State and Gonzaga in the recent past," said Ballinger. "I’m really proud of how well our athletes competed; it’s good for us to face these level programs.”
Amongst Frontier Conference Teams the Carroll Men are currently ranked 3rd behind UGF and LCSC and the women are ranked 2nd behind LCSC. They will compete every weekend from now through the end of October .
Men’s Team Scores: UM 38, MSU 54, Gonzaga 110, Carroll 199, MSU Billings 268, Rocky 281
Women’s Team Scorers: Washington State University 15, UM 90, Montana State 67, Gonzaga 132, Eastern Washington University 147, MSU Billings 237, Carroll 249, Rocky 331.
Racing Saints Leading the Pack.
Both the Men’s and Women’s Carroll College Racing Saints ran strong at the MSU Invitational on Saturday in Bozeman, Montana. The high level meet hosted strong NCAA programs and a host of NAIA schools such as Dickenson State, UGF, Rocky, and Westminster.
The Carroll Women’s team came out on top of all the non-NCAA schools in addition to beating NCAA DII program MSU-Billings. Led by Junior Jade Johnstone and up and coming frosh Jamie Greene the squad competed well despite a long week of training.
“We didn’t let up on our mileage on bit for this competition.” Said Coach Bill Ballinger. “Both our Men’s and Women’s teams are coming off high mileage and long interval training less than 48 hours before competition. I am very happy of the competitiveness our squads ran with today.”
The Carroll Men were led by Sophomores Taylor Gregory, Peter Fey, and Andy Burns. The men came in 3rd of 7 small schools falling to nationally ranked Dickenson State and UGF. The women competed in a 3 mile race while the men ran in the first full 8 KM race of the season.
Both teams are off next weekend and return to competition on October 4th at the UM Invite in Missoula, MT. stats
Saints harriers shine at meet
By JEFF WINDMUELLER
The Carroll College cross-country teams placed first and second against other participating colleges at the Carroll Open Saturday morning.The Saints women finished with 44 points to beat the University of Great Falls with 98, while the men’s squad fell to the Argonauts 26 to 43 more
Saints harriers to face locals in Carroll Open
By JEFF WINDMUELLER
It will be the young guns versus the mavericks when the Carroll College cross country team hosts the Carroll Open Saturday at 9:30 a.m.The Saints have invited not only some of the top distance runners in the region, but also local athletes to compete in the
5-kilometer race which serves as their season opener.
“It’ll be fun to see how a fast old guy will do against some young guys,” said Saints head coach Bill Ballinger. “You can’t count those guys out. Some of them are former collegiate runners that are pretty good in their own right.”
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Saints Sign Oregon Prep
Carroll College Cross Country Coach Bill Ballinger has completed recruitment for the 2008 Racing Saints with the signing of Tara Higgins from Portland, Oregon.
Higgins is an accomplished athlete from St. Mary's Academy, one of the most prominent high school Cross Country programs in the Northwest.
This past fall she helped lead her team to 1st place in the elite Nike Team National (NTN) Western Region Championships and 10th place the following week in the NTN National Championships. She has competed at the varsity level in Cross Country for four years and three years in track and field.
"We are extremely fortunate to have landed an accomplished athlete this late in the 2008 recruitment year.", remarked Coach Ballinger. "We had an athlete decide to not come back to Carroll next fall which enabled us to open up some scholarship dollars for Tara. She will make and immediate contribution to our Women's squad this fall."
Higgins graduated with a 3.4 GPA and plans on majoring in Education. Her high school coaches were Mike Bojorquez and Mike Bergmann (father of current Racing Saint Taylor Bergmann).
Her parents are Michael Higgins and Mary Kay Gaffney.
Carroll Cross Country currently has 25 athletes on the roster for this fall, consisted of 14 Women and 11 Men.