EUGENE, Ore. - Coming around the final turn of the biggest race of her life, Morgan's Lindsey Anderson was all alone in second place.
    No lead ever felt more satisfying.
    Needing to finish in the top three to qualify for the first women's steeplechase ever contested in the Olympics at the Beijing Games later this summer, Anderson ran like never before at the U.S. Olympic Trials for track and field at legendary Hayward Field late Thursday night.
    The former Weber State standout completed an astonishing rise to the top of her sport by blowing away her previous best time on a cool and breezy night and assuring she will be part of an historic event in China, not even two years after expecting to finish her college career uneventfully and pursue a career in teaching.
    "I can't even think of the words to describe how I feel," she said. "It's just so unbelivably amazing, and any good word you could use to describe it."
    With her husband, parents and three sisters watching from the stands - her twin Angela wore a T-shirt emblazoned by hand with the words "my twin is faster than your twin" - Anderson ran with the leaders from the start and finished second in 9 minutes 30.75 seconds, an improvement of nearly 10 seconds over her previous best time.
    "It was so exciting coming down, knowing that I was going to make the
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Olympic team on that last straightaway," she said. "There are absolutely no words to describe that feeling."
    Thousands of fans roared a deafening ovation as Anderson sprinted the final straightaway behind Anna Willard, who broke the American record in 9:27.58, and far ahead of third-place Jenny Barringer of Colorado, the two-time NCAA champion who many regarded as the race favorite.
    Not that Anderson knew it.
    "I wasn't going to look," she said, "and I wasn't going to let down at all."
    Her family could barely stand it, either, even though her cushion seemed safe. "I'm still shaking, man," her husband Mark said nearly 30 minutes later. "I'm still shaking."
    Moments after crossing the finish line, Anderson turned with a huge smile and hugged Barringer, then Willard, and accepted a small American flag to wave before commencing surely one of the longest victory laps in track history.
    Eventually donning a white Team USA jacket and accepting a bouquet of flowers, she hugged her friends - fellow former WSU runner Sariah Long finished 12th, in 10:00.62 - slapped five with fans she had never met, and even signed her autograph on a baby girl.
    "Right on her belly," Anderson said.
    Only a modestly achieving runner for most of her career at Morgan High School and WSU, neither Anderson nor her family ever expected she would run professionally after college. But she made a remarkable transformation in her senior season, vaulting herself into the world of elite international track and field.
    The breakthrough 9:39.95 she ran for the Wildcats in the spring of 2007 still stood as her personal best when she took the same Hayward track on which the fearless Steve Prefontaine once ran, and she responded to the biggest challenge of her life with a boldness the legend would have appreciated.
    She ran with the lead pack from the start, unconcerned with a blistering record pace. She knew that if she could stay with Willard and Barringer, she would be fine.
    "It just fit perfectly with what she wanted to do," Mark Anderson said. "Exactly."
    By the time two laps remained in the 7 1/2-lap race, in which runners must leap over 30-inch hurdles and a water pit on each lap, the top three had started to open a gap on the rest of the strung-out field. With 600 meters to go, they were well clear, setting up a final lap that was comfortable for everybody except those involved.
    "Get to the finish line," is all Anderson could think. "Let's go!"
    When it was over, Anderson became the first track athlete from Utah to qualify for Beijing, though others can join her in the next two days.
    Former Brigham Young All-American Josh McAdams and Ogden's Michael Spence will run the final of the men's steeplechase after advancing out of their semifinals on Friday night, and Provo's Josh Rohatinsky and Ogden's Seth Pilkington - son of WSU coach Paul Pilkington, who coaches Anderson - will contest the 10,000 tonight, about the same time Layton's James Parker attempts to make his second Olympic team in the hammer throw.
    "I know I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight," Anderson said. "I'm going to be up, probably just running in my sleep, not being able to calm down. I'm just so excited."