Just minutes after the men’s team completed a top-10 sweep, the Illinois women’s cross country team accomplished something similar, finishing first, second and third.

The Illini were led by sophomore Maggie Carroll, who finished the 5k race with a time of 17:46. Sophomore Katie Coppin came in second with a 17:52, while sophomore Rachel Hernandez rounded out the top-three for the Illini with a time of 18:09.

“We were very strong at the front, all three of those girls ran giant PRs (personal records) and this is not a fast course, so I’m really pleased,” head coach Karen Harvey said. “I could see it from training, I could see it from confidence, that’s exactly what I expected. The times are very close to what we wanted, and I think the top-three has to walk away very pleased.”

Carroll called this race a confidence builder as this was her first time racing since she broke her foot at the indoor Big Ten track meet in February.

“It’s exciting knowing that I was 35 seconds faster than I was here last year. Rachel was a minute, and Katie was almost two minutes faster,” she said. “It’s just exciting for the future and it’s only September.”

In addition, Harvey was impressed with both Coppin and Hernandez.

“Katie Coppin ran awesome and Rachel Hernandez gets better every week. She’s not where I want her right now, but she’s getting better every week.”

For Coppin, the roles have now been reversed as she has started to break into Harvey’s top-nine runners.

“When I was a freshman, I was always looking up to Maggie and Rachel,” Coppin said. “It felt great to run in a pack with them and have them push me, just as much as I have been able to help them.”

The lone negative of the meet according to Harvey was the team’s fourth and fifth runners. Freshman Jamie Kuhl finished in ninth place with a time of 18:44, while junior Lisa Phillips came in at 19:07 in 13th place.

“I guess you could say (Jamie and Lisa) had an off day, everybody has their off days,” Carroll said. “It’s one of those things were you learn from your mistakes in September and you have until the end of October for Big Tens to prove ourselves.”

The Illini will take their first-place finish in the Pack-It-Up meet and now focus on what lies ahead. Harvey is looking for her group to run better as a team; in training, she said she has made group goals, and not individual goals for the team.

“If one person in your group lets you down, you didn’t do it; everyone in that group is responsible,” Harvey said. “I’m trying to get them to think of the team again, because in track it’s individual. They are tuned to be track runners and right now I’m trying to bring them together as a team. They all have to be responsible for their actions, so four and five know, they weren’t responsible today.”

The Illini trio of Carroll, Coppin and Hernandez ran shoulder-to-shoulder for much of the race.

“It feels good, every day everybody is getting better. Progressively, everybody is getting better so I think today was just another step in the right direction,” Hernandez said.

The Illini are off next weekend, but will compete in the Notre Dame Invitational on Sept. 30. This will be the Illini’s first chance at running against real competition, when they race against teams such as Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Oklahoma State, among others.

“I talk about (Notre Dame) every day, cause they better be ready,” Harvey said. “And if they are ready, they’re really going to show the rest of the nation.”