Her first race was at sectionals.

"I was extremely nervous, but after that I was like, 'Oh, it's just another race,' " Lusson said. "(Last season) everything was kind of iffy, a little bit inexperienced, but this year I feel like I know what I'm supposed to do. Our team in general just knows what to do because we have great seniors out there leading the way."

On Saturday, the Lions had arguably their worst, yet best team race of the season at the Class 3A Lockport Sectional. Several bad things happened on the treacherous 3.1-mile Dellwood Park course, but the Lions persevered and advanced to State for the 11th straight year by gaining the fifth and final team-qualifying spot.

Seniors Kelsey Kilrea (20 minutes, 16.72 seconds) and Eliza Dudley (20:26.70) were 14th and 16th, followed by Lusson (21st, 20:32.56), freshman Randie Speir (23rd, 20:34.54), sophomore Lisa Gordon (36th, 20:57.86), junior Carly Rocco (59th, 21:47.65) and senior Emily Meingast (80th, 22:26.57).

Kilrea and Gordon have been the Lions' top two finishers most of the season. Kilrea was again Saturday after sitting out regionals, but she admirably worked her way back after falling just after the 1-mile mark and slightly twisting her ankle. Gordon, the regional champion, was up front at the start, but fell back with complications from a hip injury that forced her to be a late scratch at last year's state meet.

"If anyone was hurting, they pushed through and all that matters is we qualified. I don't really think score matters, place matters right now, as long as we did our goal," Kilrea said.

"Every step of the way had mud, water or a hill. Up one of the gravel hills that was I swear are like 180-degree angles, there was a little ditch. I twisted my ankle and fell but all of the fans were like, 'Oh shoot. You can do it. Get back up.' I just tried not to think about it and I saw 'Jersey Boys' last night so I was singing the songs in my head."

The Lions should do much better in Peoria on the flat Detweiller Park course for the state race at 1 p.m. Saturday. Last year, LT finished eighth with three of Saturday's competitors (Kilrea, Lusson and Rocco) in the lineup. Rocco and Meingast ran at state in 2007, and Dudley and Meingast ran at state in 2006.

"Top 10 most definitely (is a goal), top five would be great. I'm just looking for the girls to have a great experience and run their best races on the state course," LT coach Julie Metz said. "It'll be very welcoming to run on a dry course."

The Lions' focus on a strong pack paid off Saturday. Leading that group was Dudley, who had trouble finishing races late last season because of her asthma. Her great race Saturday was accentuated by passing a couple of runners right before the chute.

"It is my best race of the year," Dudley said. "I think it's an honor to run at State senior year because it's your last year of cross country. It's fun for the experience and it's an honor to run for LT because there are fast runners."

Will Lusson be nervous for this year's state meet? Kilrea will try to keep her calm.

"Still, at the (season-opening) LT Invite, I was like, 'I'm so nervous.' She's like, 'Why do you need to be nervous?' (I said), 'What if I do bad?' (Kilrea said) 'Just race and even your bad is good,' " Lusson said. "I've just tried to go out there, be comfortable. I still know what I'm doing, you have to mentally prepare, but I don't go out there stiff."