Under a new coach and new expectations, redshirt sophomore Taylor McDowell endured a 2013 cross-country season packed with adjustments.

After a full year of working with second-year ISU coach Andrea Grove-McDonough, McDowell says she is more relaxed now and understands her coach’s expectations and techniques.

During her 2013 campaign, McDowell was limited throughout the course of the cross-country season because of allergies and asthma.

“Last season, [McDowell] was having a lot of trouble with her breathing,” Grove-McDonough said. “She was really struggling in the fall. I wasn’t really sure what she was capable of, and if her training was an indication of her breathing problems or just how talented she was.”

After discovering a training plan that worked well for her, McDowell began to improve and show what she’s truly capable of producing on the cross-country course.

“She’s handling things really well this year,” Grove-McDonough said. “She’s way ahead of where she was at this time last year.”

In two events this season, McDowell placed third overall at the Bulldog 4K Classic on Aug. 29 and 80th overall at the Roy Griak Invitational on Saturday.

McDowell credits her recent success to the hard work she put in during training this past summer.

“I increased my mileage a little this summer and did a lot of my runs with [ISU volunteer assistant coach] Sam Bluske,” McDowell said. “I think that helped a lot. I was able to stay healthy throughout this summer and into the fall.”

Bluske, a fifth-year senior on last year’s cross-country team, placed 16th for the Cyclones in the Big 12 Championships and was the team’s fourth runner to cross the finish line at the 2013 NCAA Championships.

Next on the schedule for McDowell and the ISU cross-country team is the Wisconsin Adidas Invitational in Madison, Wisconsin on Oct. 17. McDowell is from Hartland, Wisconsin and competed in front of family and friends at last year’s invitational.

“It’s exciting because a lot of my friends from high school live in Madison now,” McDowell said. “There’s a little more pressure [competing where you’re from] because you kind of feel like you have to prove something.”

Grove-McDonough said she has yet to decide if McDowell will be one of the starting seven runners to race for the team at Wisconsin this year. McDowell is competing for the seventh spot with redshirt junior Colleen Riley.

McDowell said patience is key for her to have a chance at earning that final roster spot.

“In the past few workouts I’ve tried to bridge the gap too quickly because Perez [Rotich] and Erin [Hooker] are a little further ahead of me right now,” McDowell said. “I’ve started out the workouts too fast, and then I’ve not been able to finish them at the quality I want to.”

While McDowell has made vast improvements since last year, Grove-McDonough said she needs McDowell to take an even bigger step forward next season.

“We’re going to need someone like Taylor to make a huge jump next year and be able to not just score as a four or five [runner] for us, but score a good four or five,” Grove-McDonough said. “We need someone who can be inside the top-40 at races with a depth like the Griak [Invitational].”