De La Cerda, Arreola Shine in Road Race : Distance running: Up-and-coming talent, Northridge All-American post easy victories over 5-kilometer course in Newhall.

A rising star and a young talent looking to work his way up the distance-running ladder won their respective divisions at the Independence Day 5-kilometer run in Newhall on Thursday.

Darcy Arreola of Cal State Northridge set a women’s course record of 16 minutes 35 seconds to handily win her division, and Peter De La Cerda of Newhall timed 15:05 to win the men’s title.

Arreola’s victory was her third in a row at Newhall, but she was mildly disappointed with her time despite the fact it took four seconds off the course record she set last year.

“I wanted to run faster,” she said. “I wanted to run at least 16:30. Halfway through the race, I thought I could run that, but then I started to get tired. I started to realize that this distance is about three times longer than I’ve been running.”

Arreola has been on a personal-best rampage in the 1,500 meters, lowering her best mark three times since mid-May.

Her most recent lowering--to 4:09.32--came three weeks ago in The Athletics Congress championships at Randalls Island in New York, where she placed third to qualify for the U. S. team that will compete in the World Championships in Tokyo, Aug. 24-Sept. 1.

Thursday’s race amounted to a hard training run for Arreola in preparation for the World Championships, but it also served as a relaxing diversion from the track.

“This is a nice change of pace,” she said. “I don’t get a chance to run enough of these. Hopefully, I’ll be able to run more of them in the future.”

De La Cerda, who runs for Team In-Motion, finished a distant second to Daren Stonerock in last year’s race. He wasn’t challenged after the first mile Thursday, however, as Stonerock--who is recovering from a broken neck--looked on.

De La Cerda led a group that included Andy Dunn, Dan Berkeland and Ron Roberts through the first mile in 4:55, then broke the race open shortly thereafter.

Although Roberts has run 3:40.5 in the 1,500, it was obvious from the start that he was not in that kind of shape. He eventually finished eighth in 16:31.

“I didn’t really throw in any kind of a surge,” De La Cerda said of his break from the pack. “I was just trying to run a steady pace of sub five-minute miles. I was surprised when I pulled away.”

De La Cerda’s lead had grown to more than 100 meters when he passed what was marked as the two-mile point--but based on his final time, it had to be farther--in 9:55.

De La Cerda, who ran for Alemany, Hart and Granada Hills during the course of his high school career, extended his lead to nearly 300 yards at the finish as Dunn out-kicked Berkeland for second. Both runners were timed in 15:49.

Pete Dolan and Erick McBride, both running unattached, finished fourth and fifth in 15:56 and 16:00, respectively.

Like Arreola, De La Cerda also used the race as a training run, but he was preparing for the U. S. National Biathlon (five-mile run, 20-mile bike ride) championships in Ontario on July 14.

In late August, De La Cerda will head to Adams State College in Alamosa, Colo., where he will start classes and attempt to walk on to the school’s vaunted cross-country team.

Adams State won seven consecutive NAIA men’s cross-country titles before finishing second to Lubbock (Tex.) Christian last year.

“I’ve always wanted to see what I could do in college cross-country,” he said. “I’m really looking forward to the opportunity.”