Ben Wallace to run at Carroll College
By FRED KRONER
From the time Ben Wallace was introduced to running as a sixth-grader, he knew he had found his passion.
“Once I started running, I knew I wanted to continue for the rest of my life,” said Wallace, a Mahomet-Seymour senior. “I knew it was the sport for me.”
He will do so in a competitive environment the next four years. Wallace has committed to running cross-country and track and field at Carroll College, in Helena, Mont.
The decision to run after high school was a more recent one.
“It wasn’t until my sophomore year I knew I wanted to run at the college level,” Wallace said. “At the end of my sophomore year, I really began to look at what college I wanted to attend and being able to run was always a part of the search.”
He chose an NAIA school with an enrollment of about 1,200 students, located in the capital city of Montana and near the Rocky Mountains.
It was an appealing environment.
“I loved the mountains and scenery of Montana, which made my decision to go to Carroll easy,” Wallace said.
As a senior, Wallace was one of the top runners for M-S. His 3-mile time of 16 minutes, 29.30 seconds was the team’s third-best at the Class 2A Chatham Glenwood Sectional, though the top three Bulldogs were separated by a mere 5.80 seconds.
“Ben is one of the most consistent runners the program has had in the past several years,” M-S head coach Andrew Walmer said. “He is willing to put in great volumes of work over the summer and winter, even when no one is around to make him do so.
I think going to Carroll College will be a great experience for Ben.”
Wallace was among the Bulldogs’ top seven runners in cross-country his final three years.
As a junior, he was the No. 4 runner for the state’s eighth-place Class 2A team. He was timed at 16:15.82 in the state meet at Detweiller Park, in Peoria.
Though Wallace is accustomed to running, Carroll College will require a transition.
The altitude at Helena is 3,875 feet above sea level, compared to 764 feet in Champaign.
“Being out in Montana will introduce Ben to challenges that he wouldn’t normally encounter in Illinois, like running at altitude,” Walmer said. “It can turn even easier runs into a struggle, especially when you first get out there.
“Getting to hear and see new perspectives on coaching and training will also help Ben become a better runner during college and beyond.”
Wallace realizes that he will need to be patient in his new environment.
“The first year might be a bit rough due to the change in altitude,” he said, “but the high mileage that I run should smooth out this transition.”
Wallace already has an idea of what it will be like to run at that altitude.
“Coach (Shannon) Flynn contacted me about a running camp last summer, and that started the recruitment process,” he said. “Going to this camp made Carroll stick out to me and led to my commitment.”
Flynn, an assistant coach at Carroll in track, will enter her fifth season as the Saints’ cross-country head coach next season. She is a Carroll graduate.
Wallace had other offers, but was comfortable committing to the Saints.
“After deciding what my major would be, I began visiting some of the colleges that checked all of the boxes for me, which led me to Carroll,” Wallace said. “I can’t see myself going to another college.”
Most of his recruitment took place after the impact of COVID-19 was lessened.
“It was fairly easy despite COVID as most of my visits were last summer (2022),” Wallace said.
Wallace plans to major in civil engineering. As he looks to the future, he added, “I hope to be designing public works after college.”
When the track season arrives, Wallace would like to focus on the longest of the distance races.
“I hope to run the 10K (approximately 6 miles) as I think that plays more to my strengths,” he said, “but it’ll be interesting to see how the altitude affects my ability to train for longer distances.”
For Wallace, running ultimately won out over the other sports he tried in his youth: football, soccer and wrestling.
The altitude will be just one of the areas where Wallace will face an adjustment.
“I will be very far from all of my family in the Midwest, but besides the long drive out there, I think I’ll adjust fine,” he said.
Wallace sees room for improvement.
“While in college, I can incorporate many new workouts and strength routines that may not be possible at the high school level,” Wallace said.
Walmer sees a bright future for his senior standout.
“Ben is an easy person to get along with and a hard worker, so I think he’ll fit in just fine at Carroll,” Walmer said.
