By Bill Stone, Doings Newspaper - LT senior Stu Newstat's last race on his home course Saturday would be memorable no matter what.

Steady rain made the conditions muddy for the Class 3A LT Regional in Western Springs.

"I would say it was probably the worst conditions we ran in. From the start, people were just covered in mud," Newstat said.

"I wasn't really too worried about it in the beginning, but a couple of the turns were kind of slippery. We've had some bad conditions on our course, but we kind of knew where to go, (such as) to go outside on the turns."

Newstat wasn't just one of the survivors. He had arguably his best race ever to help the Lions win their second straight regional title.

LT senior Mike Moore (16:12 for 3.0 miles) took second to Downers Grove North junior Ben Silver (16:03), and LT senior Robbie Kucera (16:27), junior Mark Holt (7th, 16:33) and Newstat (8th, 16:34) also finished among the top 10. Junior Mike Kokoris (18th, 17:06) was LT's No. 5 finisher, followed by senior Andrew Allabastro (28th, 17:44) and junior Tim Pollard (30th, 17:53). Kokoris and Allabastro fell in separate instances during the first half-mile of the race.

The Lions now need a top-five finish at the Lockport Sectional at 11:45 a.m. Saturday at Dellwood Park to earn a second straight State berth. No. 2-ranked Neuqua Valley is the favorite, but no other teams are ranked in the top 15.

"We will need to run with a purpose at sectionals," LT coach Mike Danner said. "We had several guys that ran well at regionals, but it was not the total team effort that we will need."

Newstat, an alternate for last year's State lineup, hopes he can continue his momentum at sectionals. His solid regional race came after being disappointed by finishing 26th at the conference meet Oct. 17.

"That was probably the best (I've run). It's the closest I've been to (Kucera and Moore). Time-wise it didn't show that it was my best race, but race-wise it was," Newstat said. "Last year I was on the State team and the ninth man. I was happy to run (at regionals) and I'm looking forward to running at sectionals."