Stamps Wins Again but Hears Footsteps : Cross-country: Kim Mortensen of Thousand Oaks runs second at Mt. SAC meet, but is gaining on the national champion.

Julia Stamps of Santa Rosa High maintained her mastery over Thousand Oaks’ Kim Mortensen in Saturday’s Mt. San Antonio College Invitational cross-country meet, yet there were signs that Mortensen might close the gap on the defending national champion by season’s end.

While an exhausted Stamps had to be helped through the finish chute after the girls’ team sweepstakes race, Mortensen jogged back and forth. First she asked if Stamps was OK. Then she congratulated third-place finisher Annie Ebiner of Glendora St. Lucy’s.

Stamps’ condition was not surprising considering she ran a course record 16 minutes 55 seconds over the three-mile distance, breaking her own record by three seconds.

But Mortensen’s freshness seemed to indicate that she could have run a few seconds faster than the 17:14 clocking that moved her to second on the all-time course list.

“During the races, I tend to get it in my head that I’m running as fast as I can,” Mortensen said. “But when I think about it after the race today and evaluate the way I felt, I had more left.”

Stamps’ victory was her second of the season over Mortensen, who finished 22 seconds behind the Santa Rosa junior in last month’s Stanford Invitational.

Stamps had raced to a 20-second lead after the first mile in that race. Mortensen reduced the gap in the first mile Saturday--Stamps timed 5:06 with Mortensen and Ebiner at 5:15--but Stamps had a 20-second lead at the two-mile mark.

Stamps extended her lead as she crested the third--and final--hill on the course, but Mortensen made up ground in the last half-mile.

“I tried to stay as close to her as I could,” Mortensen said. “But at the same time, I also have to run my own race.”

Thousand Oaks Coach Jack Farrell was ecstatic with Mortensen’s performance, which cut 46 seconds off her previous best at Mt. SAC. But he couldn’t say the same of the remaining Lancers.

Thousand Oaks entered the meet as the top-ranked Division I team in the state, but finished fourth with 138 points.

Yucaipa, the top-ranked Division II team, edged Concord Clayton Valley, the top-ranked Division III squad, 78-79. Canyon, second-ranked in Division I, placed third with 135.

“We knew we were going to have a rough time with Clayton Valley and Yucaipa,” Farrell said. “But I was hoping that we would finish ahead of all the Division I teams.”

Canyon was paced by Julie Harris (18:33), Lauren Fleshman (18:42) and Kellie Stigile (18:57) in 12th, 15th and 20th.

“I’ve said all along that I think we have the best [trio of runners] in the state,” Canyon Coach Dave DeLong said. “Kellie would be the first or second runner at most schools.”

Hoover, paced by third-place finisher David Lopez (15:21), placed fifth in the boys’ team sweepstakes race with 196 points.

Jesuit, led by individual winner Michael Stember (15:13), won with 102, followed by Grass Valley Nevada Union (141), Concord De La Salle (195) and Peninsula (195).

Quartz Hill’s Danielle Day (18:32) placed fourth in the girls’ individual sweepstakes race.