Skieresz Turns Back Clock to Establish Personal-Best Mark : Track and field: Agoura senior’s best effort since sixth grade is good enough to win at Arcadia.

As personal bests go, this one was a looooong time coming.

Amy Skieresz of Agoura High ran a phenomenal time of 10 minutes 45 seconds for 3,200 meters as a sixth-grader in 1989, but that mark remained her personal best until Saturday night’s Arcadia Invitational at Arcadia High.

Despite finishing third in the Kinney national cross-country championships in 1992, despite running 4:53.97 in the 1,600 in 1993, despite winning the state Division I and II cross-country titles in ’93 and ‘94, Skieresz had been unable to lower her best time in the 3,200 until Saturday night when she ran 10:31.60, the second-fastest time in the nation this year, to defeat a high-quality field.

“I knew I was in pretty good shape because I had run 10:03 for 3,000 meters a couple of weeks ago and I wasn’t running all-out when I did that,” Skieresz said. “But I’m surprised with the time. I’m very happy.”

Skieresz’s effort, which moved her to seventh on the all-time region list, was doubly impressive because she ran negative splits. That is, she ran 5:12.4 for the second 1,600 after timing 5:19.2 for the first.

After cruising between fourth and eighth place for the first 1,600, the Arizona-bound Skieresz moved into third with three laps to go and into second with 400 meters left.

She ran just off the shoulder of leader Emily Nay of Helena, Mont., until 300 meters remained. Then she shifted gears and surged into the lead midway down the backstretch.

She wasn’t seriously challenged after that. Christine Argyros of Australia finished second in 10:33.82 and Nay was third in 10:38.23.

“I think I’m just about all the way back,” Skieresz said. “I feel good and my training has been going real well, so I have a lot of confidence. In cross-country, I was a nervous wreck before every race, but now I’m confident. And a race like this definitely helps.”

Although Skieresz was the only winner from the region in Saturday’s meet, she was not the only athlete who turned in a personal best.

Ronney Jenkins of Hueneme finished second in the boys’ long jump with a personal best of 23 feet 9 1/2 inches.

It was the fifth meet this season in which Jenkins had jumped further than 23 feet.

Eleazar Hernandez of Camarillo timed a personal best of 9:05.15 in the 3,200, but he was disappointed with his fourth-place effort.

“I’m not happy with my time,” he said. “I wanted to break nine (minutes).”

Hernandez, fifth in the Foot Locker national cross-country championships in December, led the field through 1,600 meters in 4:30.8, but he could not keep pace with Mike Schneider (8:58.75) of Canyon del Oro High in Tucson, Ariz., and Micah Davis (9:01.39) and Skiy Detray (9:04.76) of Mead High in Spokane. Wash., over the last 600 meters.

A cramp in his right calf muscle might have slowed Hernandez over the final lap, but he refused to use that as an excuse.

Antonio Arce of Palmdale, who ran a nation-leading time of 9:08.99 in the Pasadena Games two weeks ago, finished a disappointing 16th in 9:23.5 after fading badly in the last two laps.

Arce was among the leaders for the first 2,000 meters, but a sinus infection hampered him over the last three laps.

“I’ve been flat in workouts and I was flat tonight,” Arce said. “I’ve been fighting a cold since Pasadena. I’m on antibiotics right now.”

Keith O’Doherty of Thousand Oaks, who ran 9:10.91 behind Arce at the Pasadena Games, did not run after coming down with flu earlier in the week.

O’Doherty’s Thousand Oaks teammate, Jeff Fischer, ran a personal best of 9:10.42 to finish fifth in the Arcadia meet last year, but he finished a disappointing 18th in 9:32.3 on Saturday.

The boys’ 1,600 was expected to be a showdown between John Mortimer of Londonderry (N.H.) and Brett Strahan of Hart, but Erik Mickelson of Newport High in Bellevue, Wash., moved up from fifth in the final 400 meters to win in 4:10.61.

Strahan, the No. 3 returning 1,600 runner in the nation, led the field through 800 meters in 2:05.7 and was in second with a lap to go before finishing fifth in 4:12.30.

Mortimer, runner-up in the Foot Locker championships, ran a personal best of 4:10.84 in the mile during the indoor season, but finished eighth in 4:13.49.

Other top performances were turned in by Andrea Wasden of Rio Mesa and Kim Mortensen of Thousand Oaks.

Wasden placed fourth in the 100-meter high hurdles in 14.39 and Mortensen ran a personal best of 4:59.23 to place sixth in the girls’ 1,600.

The Palmdale girls set school records in the 400- and 1,600-meter relays and the Cleveland boys did likewise in the 400-meter relay.

The Palmdale foursome of Monique Nolan, Trinisha Holmes, Edneisha Curry and Kadrina Coffee timed 47.92 to place fifth in the invitational 400 relay.

In the 1,600 relay, Palmdale timed 3:53.26 to finish sixth. The 1,600-meter time moves the Falcons into ninth on the all-time region list and the 400-meter clocking moves them to 12th.

The Cleveland quartet of Damon Williams, Ron Savur, Russel Burwell and Charles Lee ran 42.52 to finish third in the seeded boys’ race.

Steve Williams of San Fernando finished a disappointing ninth in the 100-meter high hurdles with a time of 15.14 after turning in two solid performances during the daytime portion of the meet.

Williams bounded a region-leading 46-5 to win the triple jump and finish second in the long jump with a mark of 21-10.