cross-country
Meagher signs with Saints
Townsend’s Tim Meagher has signed a letter of intent with the Carroll College men’s cross country team, becoming the first recruit for the newly formed squad.
Bill Ballinger, Carroll’s head cross country coach announced the signing Thursday.
“I believe Tim will make an immediate contribution to our new men’s cross country team,” said Ballinger. “He doesn’t have much cross country experience, but he has solid running talent, great foot speed and will transition nicely to the longer distances.” Full Story
Carroll Launches Cross-Country Program for 2007
"This is a tremendous opportunity to recruit more top notch students to Carroll College," said Parker. "We will field both men's and women's programs in the fall and expect to compete at a very high level with other program from across the Northwest and into North and South Dakota," Parker added.
Along with the addition of the cross-country program, Parker announced that Bill Ballinger will become the head coach for both teams.
"We are very fortunate to hire a coach of Bill Ballinger's caliber," said Parker. "Bill is very experienced, hard working, and comes into his role at Carroll with a great plan."
Bill Ballinger ran competitively at NCAA DIV 1A level for the University of Montana (1986-1991). During his collegiate competitive career he earned 2 Athletic Letter Awards and several Big-Sky Conference All Academic awards. Bill has over 10 years high school coaching experience at the Montana class B and AA levels. Until last spring he was the Head Cross-Country and Distance Coach at Missoula Hellgate High school. In April of 2006 he resigned his coaching positions to accept an assignment as an Assistant Professor of Military Science with the Carroll College Department of Military Science. Since arriving at Carroll he has been working with the Carroll Athletic Department to establish the "Racing-Saint's" inaugural Cross-Country team.
"I am honored and thrilled to have the opportunity to help build Carroll College's inaugural Men's and Women's Cross-Country teams," Ballinger said. "Cross-Country is a great sport and we intend to carry on the tradition of Carroll's excellence in athletics by being competitive at the Regional and National levels."
Bill currently holds the rank of Captain in the Montana Army National Guard and is the Officer in Charge of the Carroll Army ROTC program. His education consists of a M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction, a B.A. in Biology / Chemistry, and secondary science teaching endorsements. He has taught at the junior high, high school, and collegiate levels.
This is the first time Carroll College has added a sport to its athletic department since in 1998 when the college added women's soccer. Carroll will be the fourth member institution of the Frontier Conference to add cross-country, and hope the addition will make a Frontier Conference Championship event foreseeable in the near future. Other Frontier members currently supporting cross- country include Lewis-Clark State, the University of Great Falls, and Westminster College.
Coach Ballinger
406-447-5484 (office)
406-461-9008 (cell)
bballinger -is-at- carroll -dot- edu
Feel free to call during evening hours!