Erin Hooker and Bethanie Brown might have come to Ames from two different ends of the country. But so far, the freshmen roommates are very content with their decision to run cross-country at Iowa State.

“These two have been awesome so far. They stepped in at the first practice and showed that they weren’t afraid to run with that top group,” said head women’s coach Andrea Grove-McDonough. “They’ve shown a lot of class and a lot of poise. It doesn’t really seem like they’re freshmen.”

Hooker, a native of Fort Collins, Colo., knew very early Iowa State was the school for her. It wasn’t too far from home, she liked the facilities, and most importantly for her, it was a good academic fit.

During her senior season of high school, Hooker was named first-team all-conference and was the Front Range League Female Athlete of the Year. Hooker was also the 2010 state cross-country runner-up in Colorado.

“The team here [at Iowa State] is great,” Hooker said. “They were really excited to do great things, and that’s what really made me want to come here.”

Hooker signed to run for the Cyclones last fall. Brown signed her letter of intent around that time too, just for a different program.

Brown originally planned to run for Grove-McDonough at the University of Connecticut, but when Grove-McDonough took the job at Iowa State, Brown quickly rethought her selection.

“I really liked what coach McDonough was doing at UConn so when she got the job here, I asked for a release from Connecticut,” Brown said. “I’d never even been here before, but I really liked Coach McDonough, and I trusted her. That’s really why I came.”

Brown was alerted about two weeks before the start of classes that she had received the release from UConn, and then made the decision to switch and run for Iowa State.

Brown was named the Gatorade Cross-Country Runner of the Year in Maine her senior season and was the Class-B individual state champion in 2012. She also maintained a 4.27 grade point average and was the No. 1 student in her class.

“One of my main goals is just to learn how to manage everything,” Brown said. “I really want to be able to balance my running and athletics, but be able to develop a routine academically and socially as well.”

While Brown and Hooker are newcomers to the team, some people are speculating that they can make a huge impact early. In fact, Grove-McDonough said she would be surprised if they weren’t running with the top group shortly.

“I try not to put too many expectations on runners their first season. I want them to get adjusted and really just have a positive experience,” Grove-McDonough said. “But I think that they both can have a very positive impact on the team right away.”

Neither Brown nor Hooker have competed in a meet this season for Iowa State, but when the time comes, they know they will be ready.

“The first cross-country race is always weird, even in high school, because its been like nine months since the last cross-country race, but I think this year its even more so weird because it’s a collegiate race,” Hooker said. “So I’m just going to go into it with whatever happens, happens. I’m just going to run my guts out.”