LAKESIDE — Chris Johnson was amazed during Siuslaw’s first trip to Tugman State Park for a cross country race this fall.

The three-time state champion Siuslaw girls team, which ran conservatively in the North Bend Invitational following a hard race a few days prior, finished second to host North Bend.

“A lot of people were feeling sorry for us,” Johnson, Siuslaw’s veteran coach, said of that day.

Clearly, those people weren’t familiar with Siuslaw’s program, how Johnson always seems to prepare his team best for the end of the season, and how the graduation of four seniors from last year’s title team doesn’t spell the end of Siuslaw’s reign.

“When you’ve got a girl like Jennifer Hague to lead us, that’s a big difference,” Johnson said.

The Vikings have a chance to extend their run of state titles on Saturday at Lane Community College, while Hague has a chance to be a rare four-time state champion. Only a handful of runners have been part of four championship teams.

The biggest challenge to winning a title likely comes from Molalla, which beat the Vikings head-to-head in their only two matchups this season — at the Molalla Invitational and in the Adidas Classic.

But after the way the Vikings ran at the district meet last week, Johnson said the team has a good chance.

Siuslaw’s top five runners finished in the top eight overall, and the slowest of the bunch, Nadja Warren, was timed in just over 20 minutes. It’s not as fast a group as last year, but Johnson likes to see the tight grouping.

Hague, the team leader, said the Vikings have had little trouble finding motivation this fall.

“It was the fact that no one thought we could do it (again),” she said.

Hague is the seasoned veteran of the team. She has finished 17th or better at the state meet every year — she was ninth last year — and should be in the same range again this year.

She expects the entire team to fare well against Molalla.

“We were really close (in the earlier races),” she said, adding the Vikings will benefit from resting up in preparation for the state meet. “That’s what the whole season leads up to is state.”

Hague admits she’s thought about winning a fourth title.

“I think it’s definitely possible,” she said.

If the Vikings do win, it will be with a unique group.

While Hague is the veteran, sophomore Samantha Pummer, the team’s fifth runner last year, often has been the team’s top finisher in races this fall.

That success has come despite a lingering injury that has made it painful to run on back-to-back days, Johnson said.

“Sam Pummer’s had a great year,” he said.

“I think we finally came together as a team,” Pummer said after finishing second at the district meet. “We’re going to do really good. We’re all pumped up for state.”

The only other returner among Siuslaw’s top five is Clarita Twombly, who was injured most of last season and was the team’s sixth finisher at state.

Raelyn Robinson is just a freshman, while the best success story of all is  Warren, a senior running cross country for the first time.

“She’s a great story,” Johnson said of Warren, who pushed aside a troubled past to become an instant contributor.

Warren moved to Florence two years ago from Colorado, switching from a school of about 3,600 students to Siuslaw, some 3,000 students fewer.

Warren instantly fell in with the wrong crowd in Florence and saw her academics plummet. She was asked to join the track team last spring and made an immediate impression.

“The second day of practice, we were going for a 40-minute run and we were going fast,” Hague recalled. “She stayed with us for 20 minutes. Right then, we said, ‘She’s going to run cross country.’”

Hague, Pummer and Warren became training partners during the summer and went to the renowned Steens Mountain Running Camp together.

Warren was convinced by her teammates and Johnson to stick with running for the cross country team.

“Chris said I don’t have a choice,” she said, admitting quickly that running was the right decision.

“I don’t know what I would be doing if I wasn’t doing this,” she said.

Warren saw her grade point average rise from about 1.0 to 2.9, and saw her general habits improve. She also gained a new peer group.

“They’re my family now,” she said of her teammates.

“I don’t know what it is about Siuslaw — our girls teams have always been close,” Hague said. “It’s the same this year.”

Warren has fit right in, Johnson said.

“She has a great personality,” he said. “The girls love her.”

Warren said the best day of the season, to date, was the district meet.

“I think we all did really well — the best we have as a team,” she said.

Siuslaw hopes to repeat that success Saturday.

Notes: The only runners to be part of champion teams four times in Oregon have been Gene Faircloth of Reedsport (1960-1963); Bill McChesney of South Eugene (1973-1976); Bryn Abby of Bend (1990-1994); Katie Sullivan of Jesuit (2003-2006); and the Rogue River trio of Selena Harman and Lindsay Clarida (1996-1999) and Bobbi Wright (1997-2000). ... The state meet begins with the Class 3A-2A-1A girls race at 10 a.m. Saturday, followed by the Class 3A-2A-1A boys at 10:35. The Class 4A girls race is slated for 11:25 a.m., followed by the boys at noon. Admission is $7 for adults and $5 for students.