Palmdale’s Arce Makes Double-Time : Track: Strong kicks enable senior to win 3,200- and 1,600-meter races in Pasadena Games.

As a junior, Antonio Arce of Palmdale High was relegated to competing in the daytime portion of the prestigious Arcadia Invitational.

Arce could be one of the headline performers in the night portion of this year’s meet April 8, however, after the senior won the 3,200- and 1,600-meter runs in the Pasadena Games at Occidental College on Saturday night.

Arce, the runner-up in the 3,200 in last year’s State championships, timed a near national-leading time of 9 minutes 8.99 seconds in that event and a personal best of 4:21.66 in the 1,600 four hours later.

The 1994 State Division II cross-country champion displayed an impressive kick in both races as he ran 62.3 for the final 400 of the 3,200 and 57.9 for the final lap of the 1,600.

“I’m surprised with the time,” Arce said of the 3,200. “I didn’t expect to run that fast. I was just trying to break 9:20.”

Keith O’Doherty of Thousand Oaks, sixth in the State Division I cross-country championships, deserved much of the credit for Arce’s time. The Lancer senior picked up the pace after leading the field through the first 1,600 in 4:40.1.

After averaging 70 seconds per lap for the first four laps, O’Doherty timed 69.2 for the fifth lap, 68.9 for the sixth and 68.2 for the seventh.

Arce, who had run at O’Doherty’s shoulder from the opening gun, surged into the lead midway down the final backstretch and gradually pulled away.

His time was approximately 35 seconds faster than he had run at this point last year.

“I think there’s a chance they might let me into Arcadia this year,” he joked.

O’Doherty timed 9:10.91 in second, trimming more than 14 seconds off his week-old personal best, with Peter Gilmore of Palisades was third in 9:15.42.

O’Doherty also placed second in the 1,600 with a time of 4:23.99.

“I feel bad because (O’Doherty) did all the work,” Arce said of the 3,200.

“It’s not right that I got the fast time after he did all the work.”

Arce wanted to share the pace-setting chores with O’Doherty, but he decided not to because he has been battling a head cold.

“I was a little tentative about pushing the pace early because of the cold,” he said. “But I felt good. I felt a lot better than I thought I would.”

Stacy Hebert of Buena, Kim Mortensen of Thousand Oaks and Neisha Henderson of Cleveland also posted individual victories.

Hebert, sixth in the 300 low hurdles in last year’s State championships, ran down Kelly Moten of Pasadena Muir in the final 50 meters of that race to time 44.76.

Mortensen won the girls’ 1,600 in 5:06.58 after a side cramp had limited her to a disappointing second-place time of 11:06.23 in the 3,200.

Henderson bounded 34 feet 4 1/4 inches in the triple jump.

The Thousand Oaks boys won the distance medley relay in 10:56.97, despite O’Doherty, Jeff Fischer (best of 4:16.69 in the 1,600) and Kevin Marsden (1:57.15 in the 800) not being members of the team.

Fischer did not run because he was on a recruiting trip to Arizona and Marsden missed the meet because of illness.

Several other local athletes placed second, led by the Palmdale girls, who produced four runner-up finishes.

Sophomore Trinisha Holmes timed 12.58 in the 100, freshman Kadrina Coffee ran a personal best of 58.55 in the 400 and junior Kristi Rose threw the discus 118 feet 4 inches.

Palmdale also placed second in the girls’ 400 relay as sophomore Monique Nolan, Holmes, sophomore Edneisha Curry and Coffee timed 48.12.

Mortensen, fifth in the 3,200 in last year’s State championships, was on pace to break her personal best of 10:53.65 in that event for the first 2,000 meters, but a side cramp forced her to slow considerably over the final three laps.

Molly Mehlberg of Peninsula placed first in 10:52.71.

In the girls’ 800, Meaghan Dunne of Buena came within a half-second of her personal best with a second-place clocking of 2:21.44.