Mortensen Pleased, and It’s About Time : Cross-country: Thousand Oaks High senior places second in Foot Locker regional in 17:12 to qualify for nationals with Nordhoff’s Canchola, Bernaldo.

Kim Mortensen of Thousand Oaks High usually doesn’t worry about times when it comes to cross-country races.

She figures that if you race well, fast times will come. But after finishing second in Saturday’s Foot Locker West regional at Woodward Park, she simply had to know what she’d run over the 5,000-meter course.

“What was my time?” Mortensen asked supporters as she left the press tent.

She broke into a smile when informed of her 17-minute, 12-second clocking.

“I definitely wanted to run faster than I did last week,” Mortensen said. “It was important to me that I get a time I could be happy with.”

Mortensen, a senior, was one of three runners from the region who placed among the top eight in their respective races Saturday to qualify for the national championships in San Diego on Saturday.

The Nordhoff duo of sophomore Elaine Canchola, fourth in the girls’ race, and senior Will Bernaldo, a stunning seventh in the boys’ race, were the others.

Santa Rosa junior Julia Stamps, the defending national champion, ran 16:45 in the girls’ race to tie her course record for the second time in two weeks and defeat Mortensen for the fourth time this season. But Mortensen was thrilled to advance to the national championships for the first time--she finished 10th in the regional in 1993 and ‘94--and move to eighth on the all-time course list.

“It’s exciting,” she said about the national meet. “I don’t know what to expect, but it should be fun.”

Mortensen had finished second to Stamps in the Division I race of the State championships at Woodward Park on Nov. 25, but her time of 17:25 was disappointing by her standards.

On Saturday, she came through the mile in 5:16 and the two-mile in 10:59--Stamps clocked 5:08 and 10:40--before finishing strongly.

“I felt more relaxed today,” Mortensen said. “I had a little cold last week and even though I don’t think it affected me much [physically] I worried about it.”

Canchola, a surprising runner-up in last year’s regional, ran a well-paced 17:39 to place fourth behind Stamps, Mortensen and Glendora St. Lucy’s senior Annie Ebiner (17:26).

The state Division III champion was in eighth place after the first mile before moving into fourth--three seconds behind Ebiner--at two miles.

“I’m happy just to qualify,” Canchola said. “That was the goal.”

Bernaldo had told Nordhoff Coach Ken Reeves all week he was going to place among the top eight, and he did so by cutting 21 seconds off his third-place time in the Division III race of the State meet.

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West Regional Notes

Louisville senior Shaluinn Fullove, weakened by a cold, collapsed after finishing 80th in the girls’ race. The state Division IV champion was taken to St. Agnes Hospital in Fresno and later released.