The Orange and Blue took third out of 31 teams at Friday’s Illinois Intercollegiate Championships, while Northwestern won and Illinois State came in second. Senior Stacey Hague continued to impress as she led for the Illini, finishing ninth overall in a crowded 330-runner field. Junior Amber Stack and sophomore Meagan Hynes set 5K personal-bests. But in the midst of the individual positives were some lows from runners expecting to race in the top group.

“One of the biggest challenges we’re going to have this year is putting it all together at once,” Rasmussen said. “People who didn’t run well last week ran well this week, and some of the people who didn’t run well last week didn’t run well this week. I think it’s a sign of being young; it’s a sign of building experience.”

“For me, as a coach, I’ve got to figure out a way to get everybody on the same page,” Rasmussen added.

Friday marked the debut of senior Ashley Thompson and sophomore Stephanie Morgan, both of whom are expected to form the front pack for the Orange and Blue.

Morgan finished second for the Illini and eleventh overall in 18 minutes, 26 seconds, while Thompson (18:56) came in fifth for the Illini and 30th overall. Yet Rasmussen expected them to place higher than they did, and so did their teammates.

When Hague was told by Rasmussen to catch up with Morgan and help her out during the race, Hague knew her teammate could do better.

“I definitely think that (Thompson and Morgan) have the ability to get better times and beat me and come in front of me,” Hague said. “In workouts, (Morgan and Thompson) seem to be going at a speed that I can’t keep up with.”

While Thompson and Morgan ran well during the first parts of the race, their legs seemed to give way, and Rasmussen attributed their decreasing performance to tired legs after a difficult practice week.

“They didn’t have their legs underneath them, and I’ll take responsibility for that because we’ve been working them hard,” Rasmussen said. “But we can still run and have tired legs and have some success. You won’t show up every single day feeling great, but we’ve got to get through it.”

Prior to Friday’s meet, the team endured rigorous workouts, including harder weight routines and sets that kept some in the weight room from 3 p.m. until 7 p.m.

The Illini have two weeks off until their next meet, which would be time spent going over as a team where they are at and what they need to work on.

“The last 2K I definitely need to improve on,” Morgan said. “I definitely need to stay more focused. We’re going through training stage right now.”

“My expectations were pretty high, and after the race I realized I needed to regroup and start working and figuring out my weaknesses to help out the team,” Morgan added.