Mile Run Is Uphill for Arce : Track and field: Palmdale senior part of talented field in Sunkist Invitational.

He is the nation’s top returning high school runner at 3,200 meters and he finished seventh in the Foot Locker national cross-country championships in December, yet Antonio Arce of Palmdale will be a decided underdog in today’s Sunkist Invitational at the Sports Arena.

That’s because the Falcon senior will run the mile against a talent-laden field that includes eight competitors with personal bests of 4 minutes 16.33 seconds or faster in the 1,600 meters.

Brett Strahan of Hart, who has a personal best of 4:09.71 in the 1,600, is a slight favorite over Micah Davis (4:12.80) of Mead High in Spokane, Wash., Dula Parkinson (4:14.06) of Mt. View High in Orem, Utah, and Billy Harper of Junction City, Ore., who has run 3:55.15 in the 1,500.

Although Arce’s personal best of 4:25 pales in comparison, it’s misleading because he set it as a sophomore. Last year, Arce focused on the 3,200 and ran a personal best of 9:03.19 to finish second in the state championships.

“I want to get my mile time down to around 4:15 this season,” Arce said. “I’ll still concentrate on the 3,200 at the end of the season, but I definitely want to improve upon my mile time.”

Arce and Strahan, who placed fourth in the 1,600 in the State meet, are two of several outstanding runners from the region who are entered in today’s meet, which starts at noon.

Eleazar Hernandez of Camarillo, fifth in the national cross-country championships, is favored in the two-mile against a field that includes Jeff Fischer and Keith O’Doherty of Thousand Oaks, John Greene of Agoura and Francisco Sandoval of Channel Islands.

Fischer, who has a best of 9:10.42 in the 3,200, placed third in the State Division I cross-country championships in November and O’Doherty was sixth. Greene was third in the State Division II final and Sandoval has a best of 9:21.55 in the 3,200.

Amy Skieresz of Agoura, the 1994 State Division II cross-country champion, and Kim Mortensen of Thousand Oaks, fourth in the Division I final, will run in the girls’ mile.

It will be Skieresz’s first track race in more than 1 1/2 years.

She lowered her personal best in the 1,600 to 4:53.97 in winning the 1993 Ventura County championships, but she was sidelined because of mononucleosis after the Southern Section championships that season. Her father forbade her from competing last year because her grades had dropped below his standards.

Ramsey Jay of Ventura, Liz Giltner of Chaminade, Andrea Wasden of Rio Mesa and Michelle Perry of Quartz Hill head the list of local performers who are competing in the sprint, hurdle and jumping events.

The USC-bound Jay, who finished fourth in the 400 meters in last year’s state championships with a time of 47.49, will compete in the 500-yard dash.

That event could be a highlight of the meet as five entrants have run 47.75 or faster in the 400, including Felton Charles of Daly City Westmoor and Jerome Davis of Ridgecrest Burroughs, the third- and fifth-place finishers in the state meet.

Giltner, sixth in the high jump in the state championships as a freshman, will compete in that event and in the 50-meter high hurdles.

Perry, fifth in the 100 and 200 in the Southern Section Division I finals as a freshman, will run in the 50-meter dash.

Wasden, the runner-up in the 100 high hurdles in last year’s Southern Section Division II championships, is entered in the 50 hurdles.