Setting the ISU women’s cross-country lineup for the Hawkeye Early Bird Invitational on Friday was simple.

ISU coach Andrea Grove-McDonough said earlier in the week that she basically told runners whoever wanted to run could do it.

The group — Evelyne Guay, Kate DeSimone, Maryn Lowry, Andrea Toppin, Kelly Naumann, Maddie Nagle, Erin Norton and Kristin Henson — competed in a combined five cross-country events for the Cyclones in 2014.

“It was a really fun race,” Nagle said. “It was our season opener, so we were just excited to get out there for the first time and see what we can do as a team. We had a smaller group of girls competing [Friday], so we kind of went into it trying to pack it up and run together as a team.”

The setting was the opposite of last season’s opener for Iowa State — a new location, only three returning ISU runners who competed at the 2014 Drake Bulldog 4K Classic and an interim assistant coach in charge who was brought on board a week before the meet as an emergency hire.

But the strategy and outcome appeared all too familiar.

In 2014, the Cyclones won the Bulldog Classic and swept the top four spots in the race. This year, Guay, DeSimone, Lowry and Toppin mirrored that success with their own sweep at the top, earning Iowa State its first win in 2015.

This year’s group ran with patience during the first 2K before pulling away from competition in the final 1K.

“We told them to shadow the leaders and then at 2K they could open it up if it felt right to go,” said ISU interim assistant coach Colleen Riley. “And that’s exactly what they did.”

The depth this team features — 22 runners on the roster, seven of whom are freshmen — has provided Grove-McDonough with flexibility when setting her lineup.

She was able to keep some of her best runners — Crystal Nelson, Perez Rotich and Bethanie Brown — in Ames, as they attempt to get back up to full speed after dealing with injuries within the past year.

Grove-McDonough has also said she intends to redshirt many of the freshmen on this year’s squad.

The Cyclones will next compete in the Oz Memorial on Friday in Falcon Heights, Minn.

Riley said she doesn’t expect any of the team’s best runners to race and believes a similar group as Friday’s will compete in another warmup style meet for Iowa State.

Nagle said the No. 1 ranking Iowa State owns puts a little pressure on the team. 

“I’d say our goals are to just completely avoid that pressure and just to keep working where we’re at and just keep getting better every week,” Nagle said.