THE PREPS : CROSS-COUNTRY / MT. SAC INVITATIONAL : Corbin Is Bittersweet Over Finish

Jessica Corbin finished 11th in the girls’ team sweepstakes race at the Mt. San Antonio College/Walnut High cross-country invitational Saturday to lead Irvine to a sixth-place finish in the prestigious, large-schools team competition.

Corbin was pleased with her time of 18 minutes 29 seconds over the three-mile course, but was unhappy she did not run closer to the top runners. Corbin did not expect to catch Santa Rosa junior Julia Stamps, who broke her course record by three seconds, finishing in 16:55.

Corbin was disappointed she lost to two runners whom she beat earlier this season: Yucaipa’s Kimi Welsh, who finished fifth in 18:05, and Concord Clayton Valley’s Heather Wallace, who finished eighth in 18:12. After the race, Corbin evaluated her performance.

“It is a minute better than last year at this point in the season, but I’m not happy with my place because I can run with those girls,” she said. “I just had a nice quiet time with myself to decide what my goals are. I know I’m capable of it, I just have to find the trigger.”

Irvine Coach Randy Rossi said he decided to bring his team to the invitational, which features more than 400 schools, rather than attend the Orange County championships because the invitational provides a preview of the course that is used for the Southern Section championships next month.

“I just think it’s critical to get experience on this course,” Rossi said.

Others scoring for Irvine, ranked No. 5 in Orange County, were freshman Erin Zehnter, who finished 18th in 18:56, senior Erin Livermore, who finished 36th in 19:52, freshman Melissa Livermore, who placed 42nd in 20:01 and junior Christina Meyer, who was 71st in 20:34.

Junior Katie Nuanes took seventh place with a time of 18:05 to lead Santa Margarita to an eighth-place finish in the sweepstakes. Santa Margarita, ranked No. 7 in Orange County, has been plagued by injuries this season and was missing two of its top runners, Katie Grether and Kindra Glavin, because of illness.

In the boys’ large-school division team sweepstakes, senior Dylan Glat placed 13th in 15:43 to lead Edison to an eighth-place finish. Others scoring for Edison, ranked No. 8 in Orange County, were senior Kent Roberts (30th in 16:04), senior Jeremy Milton (42nd in 16:19), senior Ryan Haight (75th in 16:48) and freshman Andy Knutsen (92nd in 17:00).

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Notes

Julia Stamps of Santa Rosa High posted a 19-second victory over Thousand Oaks’ Kim Mortensen in the girls’ race. Yucaipa, the 11th-ranked team in the nation by The Harrier magazine, upset third-ranked Concord Clayton Valley, 78-79, for the girls’ team title.

Michael Stember of Carmichael Jesuit pulled away from Concord De La Salle’s Tom Prindiville in the final 200 yards of the boys’ race to win in 15:13. Jesuit posted a 102-141 victory over Grass Valley Nevada Union.

* Times staff writer John Ortega contributed to this story.