HIGH SCHOOL CROSS-COUNTRY : Stamps Sets Girls’ Course Record at Mt. SAC

Julia Stamps of Santa Rosa High and Michael Stember of Carmichael Jesuit, the top returning prep distance runners in the nation, each displayed their trademark strengths to win the team sweepstakes races at Saturday’s Mt. San Antonio College Invitational.

Stamps, the defending Foot Locker national cross-country champion, pushed the pace from the start to lower the girls’ course record for the second year in a row.

Stember, who ran a nation-leading 4 minutes 4 seconds to win the 1,600 meters in the State track championships in June, tapped into his kick to pull away from Concord De La Salle’s Tom Prindiville in the final 200 yards of the boys’ race.

Stamps had become the first girl to break 17 minutes on Mt. SAC’s three-mile course last year when she ran 16:58. She was 12 seconds ahead of last year’s pace with a half mile left Saturday, but the fast early pace took a toll on her in the final stages of the race.

Despite slowing, she lowered her course mark to 16:55 and posted a 19-second victory over Thousand Oaks’ Kim Mortensen, whose time of 17:14 moved her to third on the all-time course list.

“The first mile was faster than we wanted,” Stamps said of her 5:06 split. “My coach and I had talked about coming through in 5:15, but I was about 10 seconds too fast. After that, I knew I had to concentrate on relaxing up and down the hills.”

Yucaipa, the 11th-ranked team in the nation by The Harrier magazine, upset third-ranked Concord Clayton Valley, 78-79, for the team title.

Aaron Gillen of Yreka posted the fastest time (15:05) of the day in the boys’ individual sweepstakes, but the ease in which Stember ran down Prindiville was very impressive.

Already billed as a potential four-minute miler in 1996, Stember trailed Prindiville by 25 yards with a half-mile to go. He caught him with a quarter-mile left before pulling away to a 15:13-15:14 victory.

Led by Stember, Jesuit posted a 102-141 victory over Grass Valley Nevada Union with De La Salle third at 195.