GIRLS’ RUNNER OF THE YEAR : Mortensen Blossoms as National Champ

What started with a bouquet of congratulatory balloons had, within a few days, turned into a sea of flowers for Kim Mortensen of Thousand Oaks High.

Mortensen, a senior, last Saturday became the first runner from the region to win the girls’ title in the Foot Locker national cross-country championships. Since then, she has been overwhelmed.

“I don’t want to say it looks like a funeral,” Mortensen said of her home in Thousand Oaks, “but there are flowers everywhere. . . . It’s amazing how many people actually care.”

Mortensen’s victory at Morley Field in San Diego’s Balboa Park shocked those in attendance because she had lost four races this season by a minimum of 19 seconds to defending champion Julia Stamps of Santa Rosa.

Stamps, a junior, was heavily favored to repeat, but when she was not at full strength after battling a cold all week, Mortensen stepped up to become the third Californian to win the girls’ title since the meet began in 1979.

Although Mortensen set seven course records and tied another in winning 10 races before last weekend’s meet, she is still adjusting to being national champion.

“It’s starting to sink in more and more,” she said. “It’s definitely really neat.”

With the start of the outdoor track season 2 1/2 months away, Mortensen hopes to take five recruiting trips in the interim. She likes living in California but is not opposed to attending an out-of-state school with “the right combination of education and athletics.”

No matter which school she chooses, Mortensen will look back on the 1995 season as one in which she exceeded her expectations.

“I just wanted to have a senior season that I could be proud of and happy with,” she said. “I never expected this.”