ST. JOSEPH, Minn. -- Allison Banse has always looked up to her older sister Grace, following in her footsteps as a two-sport athlete in both high school and college.
 
"She's been a role model for me my whole life," the Mankato West High School graduate said. "She's why I wanted to be in both volleyball and track. I saw her being successful in those sports and I wanted to do it too.I actually got to play volleyball on the same (high school) team with her when I was a freshman and sophomore. That was really nice. I learned a lot from seeing her example up close."
 
Grace's influence extended to track and field, where her example persuaded Allison to give throwing events a try.
 
"She started throwing and was really good at it," Allison recalled. "I wanted to follow in her footsteps there too."
 
She did exactly that, qualifying for the Class 2A state meet in both the shot put and discus as a junior and senior – finishing in the top eight three times in the two events.
 
By then, Grace had gone on to compete in both volleyball and track at Gustavus Adolphus, where father Troy has long been the head athletic trainer and mother Melissa is a health professions specialist.
 
But when it came time for Allison to make her own collegiate choice, she wanted to follow her own path. That led her to the College of Saint Benedict where she is also part of the volleyball and track and field teams.
 
"It was a hard decision because I know so many people (at Gustavus)," Allison said. "But I wanted to get out and spread my own wings. I knew from the minute I set foot on this campus that Saint Ben's was going to be the place for me."
 
Banse has wasted no time putting a stamp on her new surroundings. In volleyball, she's been part of teams that have won the MIAC playoff title and advanced to the NCAA Division III tournament the past two seasons.
 
But her biggest impact has come in track and field where she placed in the top 10 in three events at the conference outdoor meet as a first-year last season – including a fourth-place finish in the discus and a fifth-place finish in the shot put.
 
She's picked up where she left off this season, placing third in the shot put (41-feet-7.25 - third all-time indoors at CSB) at the MIAC indoor meet in February and continuing that success in the early going outdoors.
 
Banse recorded a season-best throw of 119-04 to place seventh overall in the discus at the Gene Glader Classic held at Bethel this past Saturday (April 11). She also placed eighth in the shot put with a toss of 37-2.5.
 
"She's improved so much since she's been here," CSB head coach Robin Balder-Lanoue said. "She was a good thrower in high school, but she keeps putting the time in and I think she's surprised even herself by how well she's doing. She continues to get better and better."
 
Coming to CSB, though, has meant competing against her older sister. In volleyball, Allison and the Bennies have upset Grace and the Gusties on the road in the MIAC semifinals each of the past two years. That included a 3-2 (22-25, 25-22, 25-18, 19-25, 15-11) victory last fall, though both teams advanced to the NCAA tournament.
 
"We actually first competed against each other in club volleyball when we were in high school," Allison said. "But the first time I played against her in college was a weird feeling. I wondered all day what it would be like. If we won, would I be happy or would I feel bad for her? I had a lot of mixed emotions going through my head. But I eventually realized that no matter what happened, she was going to be happy for me and I was going to be happy for her. She knows how much I admire and look up to her and nothing will ever change that."
 
In track and field, Grace competes in the multi-events (indoor pentathlon and the outdoor heptathlon) so the two don't typically go head-to-head. But they did in the shot put at this season's MIAC indoor championships, where Grace finished 13th overall.
 
"It was a little bittersweet because it was her last indoor conference meet," Allison said. "But it was a lot of fun. She was in flight one and I was in flight two, so I got to cheer her on while she was warming up. Then she was there cheering for me when I was competing. When it was over she came up and gave me a huge hug which was really nice."
 
Both Grace and Allison are eyeing future careers in health care. Grace is planning to attend physical therapy school after she graduates this May. Allison, meanwhile, is majoring in nursing.
 
It's a career path that runs in their family. In addition to their parents, their grandfather Kent Kalm was a longtime athletic trainer, including at Minnesota State-Mankato where he was also an associate professor of human performance. He finished his career as an assistant professor of anatomy and physiology at Gustavus.
 
"When I was younger, my family always called me nurse Allison because I always wanted to help people," Allison said. "I'd run and get band aids and things like that. I think it stems from getting to go to work with my dad and seeing him care for his athletes. If I didn't have school, I'd always be there with him in the training room. I thought his job was so cool. Both (Grace and I) really wanted to follow in his footsteps. I'm just going in a little different direction."
 
Grace and Allison also have two younger siblings. Sister Lydia is a volleyball and softball standout at Mankato West who plans to play softball at Minnesota State-Mankato next season. Brother Noah is a freshman at Mankato West who runs cross country and plays golf.
 
"Athletics brings us all together," Allison said. "It's one of the big things we all love and enjoy. We find happiness in other things too. But sports is the big one – some of them the same and some different. For my parents, I think they've really had fun seeing us all succeed on our various different teams."
 
Allison is hoping her own success continues as the Bennies head down the stretch in the outdoor season, building toward the conference meet May 8-9 at St. Olaf in Northfield.
 
"My goal is to keep getting better each time out," she said. "I placed at the MIAC meet in the shot put, discus and javelin last year. I'd like to do that again and add the hammer throw as well. I'm also getting close to the school record in the discus and it would mean a lot to me if I could break that," said Banse, whose discus throw of 130-08 at the 2025 MIAC Outdoor Championships was the second-best in school history while her outdoor personal best shot put throw of 40-09 ranks third.

 "But overall, I just want to score more points for the team at conferences than I did last season."