No Longer Merely an Outsider, Mortensen in Lead All Alone

Kim Mortensen of Thousand Oaks High no longer must carry the long-winded title of national outdoor leader when it comes to the girls’ 3,200 meters.

After running 10 minutes 3.11 seconds to win the Division I race of the Southern Section divisional track and field championships Saturday at Veterans Stadium in Long Beach, she is simply the national leader.

Mortensen had run a national outdoor-leading time of 10:07.1 to win the Ventura County title three weeks ago, but that was slower than the converted time of 10:06.21 that Christy Nichols of Arundel High in Gambrills, Md., had posted in winning the two-mile in the National Scholastic Indoor championships in March.

All of this statistical analysis might not mean much in a week or two because Mortensen appears fully capable of breaking the 10-minute barrier in the meets ahead. But for now, her performance before a crowd of 7,812 moved her to fourth on the all-time national outdoor performer list.

The fact that it came after her victory in the 1,600 in 4:46.28 and under somewhat windy conditions made it doubly impressive, although Mortensen wasn’t convinced the wind hampered her effort.

“I think you have a tendency to make yourself run smaller in the wind,” said the 5-foot-4 Mortensen. “I’m not sure how much it really slows you down.”

The wind didn’t appear to hinder Mortensen much. She came through the first 1,600 in 5:01.2 and then reeled off laps of 76.4, 76.3 and 76.5 before finishing in 72.7.

“She has the ability to hold pace like no high school runner I’ve ever seen,” Thousand Oaks distance Coach Jack Farrell said. “She essentially ran 71.5 for four consecutive laps in the 1,600.”

Miguel Fletcher of Alemany battled head winds in the Division III 100 and 200, but the Indian sophomore still sped to winning times of 10.54 and 21.06.

Although the 200 clocking tied his personal best and the 100 mark was slower than the 10.47 he ran earlier this year, they were probably the best performances of his career because they came against head winds of 1.15 meters per second in the 100 and 3.24 in the 200.

For good measure, Fletcher ran a 47.3 anchor leg in the 1,600 relay to help Alemany to a victorious and region-leading time of 3:18.13.

Alemany placed third in the team standings with 30 points behind Gardena Serra (38) and Inglewood Morningside (31).

Michelle Perry of Quartz Hill was another double winner from the region. The Rebel junior ran 14.89 to win the 100 high hurdles in the Division I meet and she followed that with a stunning 42.88 in the 300 lows.

The time obliterated Perry’s previous best of 44.17 and moved her into a tie for fourth on the all-time region list.

“I just wanted to break 44,” Perry said. “I wanted to go out hard, run the turn well and then just finish with whatever I had left.”

Perry also placed fifth in the long jump with a leap of 18 feet 6 1/4 inches and eighth in the 200 with a time of 25.37. The 200 time was well off her season best of 24.94, but that was understandable as she ran that race fewer than 40 minutes after the 300 hurdles.

Perry was one of several Golden League athletes who performed well in the Division I meet.

Junior Kenya Corley of Antelope Valley won the long jump with a last-round and school-record leap of 19-2 3/4. She also placed second in the high jump at 5-4.

Senior Cheree Hicks of Littlerock won the discus at 133-1 and placed third in the shotput at 41-1 1/2.

Sophomore Kadrina Coffee of Palmdale ran a region-leading 55.26 to place third in the 400 and also anchored the Falcons to third in the 1,600 relay and to fifth in the 400 relay.

Palmdale clocked a region-leading 3:52.95 in the 1,600 relay and 47.24 in the 400 relay.