Jones Posts U. S. Best at 400 Meters : Track: Rio Mesa sophomore clocks 53.89 seconds after wind-aided 11.29 100 meters at Mt. San Antonio College Relays.

Cal State Northridge distance runner Darcy Arreola and just about any sprinter from Rio Mesa High appear to have an affinity for the Mt. San Antonio College Relays.

Arreola placed second in the women’s invitational 1,500 meters, the third consecutive year she has finished in the top three at Mt. SAC, while, for the third consecutive year, a Rio Mesa sprinter--this time it was Marion Jones--set a nation-leading mark in the girls’ 400 meters.

In other races, the Canyon High boys’ and Agoura girls’ teams set nation-leading times in the distance-medley relays, running 10 minutes 16.05 seconds and 11:59.46, respectively.

Jones’ 400 time of 53.89 seconds was the best by high school runner this season though it fell short of the meet record of 53.28, set by Janeene Vickers of Pomona in 1986. And perhaps more impressively, it came just an hour after Jones won the 100 in a wind-aided time of 11.29, a mark that would have tied the national record set in 1982 by Barbara Bell of Fort Worth, Tex., if not for the wind. Jones ran a national season-best 11.38 last weekend at the Arcadia Invitational.

Jones expected a stiff challenge in the 400 from Allison Dring of San Diego Mt. Carmel, who finished third in the state championships last year. But the Rio Mesa sophomore overpowered her junior rival.

Jones had a five-meter lead on Dring after the first 200, and tripled her advantage by the finish line. Dring placed second in 55.45.

“At the 200 mark, I could feel her,” Jones said. “I think my first 200 was a little slower than what I was supposed to be at (25.0 seconds).”

Though Jones focused her attention on the 400 Saturday, she might have been even more impressive in the 100.

“I wasn’t going to do anything (in the 100) that would make me tired for the 400,” said Jones, the national age-15 and sophomore record-holder in the 100 and 200. “I was concentrating on the 400 today. That was the race.”

Jones’ effort might have been expected after her record-setting performance at Arcadia last weekend. But Arreola’s season-best of 4 minutes 18.09 seconds in the 1,500 shocked both her and Northridge Coach Don Strametz.

“I didn’t expect anything close to this,” Strametz said. “She hasn’t run for three days because of an injured Achilles’ (tendon).”

But the injury took some pressure off Arreola and the result was her best effort of the year.

“I’ve never been this relaxed before,” Arreola said. “I was so relaxed that I didn’t worry about the time and that helped a lot. Usually I panic when the early pace is that slow, but today I didn’t care.”

Content to let Claudette Groenendaal of the Santa Monica Track Club lead for the first 1,000 meters, Arreola passed 400 meters in 1:09.1 and came through 800 meters in 2:19.4.

Linda Sheskey, running for the United States team which was competing against a team from the Soviet Union, surged into the lead at 1,200 meters (3:29.0), and Arreola followed, though rather tentatively, down the backstretch.

Arreola finally launched her kick with 150 meters remaining, but by then it was too late to catch Sheskey, who won in 4:16.57.

Although Arreola was unable to successfully defend the Mt. SAC title she won last year (she finished third two years ago), her time was a season best by almost nine seconds. It addition, it was just shy of the automatic qualifying standard (4:18.00) for the NCAA Division I meet.

“It would have been nice to qualify (automatically) for nationals,” Arreola said. “But I’m happy with the race. . . . Hopefully, I’ll get a qualifier in the 800 (today).”

Jones’ 400 time lowered the Rio Mesa school record of 54.09, which Angela Burnham set in winning the event at Mt. SAC in 1989, and lowered her own best of 54.21, a winning effort at Mt. SAC last year.

In the relay events, the Agoura girls won a bet with Coach Bill Duley, who promised to treat them to lunch if they broke 12 minutes in the medley relay.

Deena Drossin, the defending state champion in the 3,200 meters, ran 4:53.6 on her 1,600 anchor leg to pace the Chargers. On Friday, Drossin led Agoura to the fastest time ever by a California team in the 4 X 1,600 relay (20:35.05).

Tiffany York and Kristie Camp, who both ran on the record relay Friday night, timed 3:48.7 and 2:16.7 on their 1,200 and 800 legs, respectively, and freshman Carie Malnekoff clocked a 59.8 400. The Chargers’ effort was the 11th-fastest by a U. S. high school team.

In the boys’ distance medley, Rosendo Sobal opened with a 3:15.9 1,200 leg for Canyon. He was followed by Rob Landtiser (49.1 in the 400), Charles Mansfield (1:57.0 in the 800), and Dave Hartman (4:13.9 in the 1,600).

The Cowboys’ time of 10:16.05 lowered their previous national-leading mark of 10:23.61. Hart also bettered that standard, finishing second in 10:21.32.

In other events, CSUN’s Charlotte Vines won the first heat of the women’s university/open 100 in 11.72 and finished fourth in the first heat of the 200 in 24.67.