MT. SAN ANTONIO COLLEGE INVITATIONAL : Palmdale’s Finest Bolts in Backstretch : Track and field: Arce wins 1,600 meters with a personal best at Mt. SAC Relays.

Spring break could not have come at a better time for Antonio Arce of Palmdale High.

A sinus infection limited the Falcon senior to a disappointing 16th-place finish in the 3,200 meters at the Arcadia Invitational on April 8, but after spending the first part of the week training and relaxing with former Palmdale coach Rob Fairley in Fulsom, Arce looked like his old self Friday at the Mt. San Antonio College Relays.

Arce used a strong kick to win the 1,600 meters in a personal best of 4 minutes 15.61 seconds and also anchored the Falcons to a fourth-place time of 10:31.07 in the invitational distance medley relay with a 4:22.7 time on his 1,600 leg.

“I’m feeling good again,” Arce said. “I just didn’t have any energy (at Arcadia). I couldn’t have run with those guys no matter how badly I wanted to.”

Arce ran in the middle of the pack for the first 700 meters of the 1,600, but after getting bounced around like a ball in a pinball machine, he quickly moved toward the front.

He was in third as Alfonso Ibarra of Riverside Arlington led the field through 800 meters in 2:09.8, and he led briefly down the backstretch before Brandon Pacheco of Brethren Christian led at 1,200 meters in 3:14.8.

Arce was six or seven meters behind Pacheco at that point, but he trimmed a couple of meters off his deficit down the backstretch. He trailed Pacheco and Matthew Coley of Canada by four meters entering the home straightaway before shifting into overdrive. He caught Coley with 50 meters left and surged past a stumbling Pacheco with 15 meters remaining.

“I was just pumping as fast as I could over that last 100,” Arce said. “I kind of held back a little. I should have gone with a 200 to go, but I waited until the last 100. I guess I was a little tentative.”

Nonetheless, Arce was very satisfied with his performance as he accomplished his pre-race goal of 4:15 and “redeemed” himself for last week’s race.

Arce, who signed a letter of intent with Notre Dame on Wednesday, was one of three local winners.

The others were Ronney Jenkins of Hueneme in the boys’ long jump and the Thousand Oaks’ girls’ distance medley relay team.

The meet started well for Jenkins when he found out he actually jumped 24 feet 1 inch--not 23-9 1/2 as the original results read--to finish second in the Arcadia Invitational, and it got better when he came from behind to defeat Clarence Scott of Fremont on his sixth (and final) jump of the competition.

Scott, who jumped a national-leading 24-6 3/4 at Arcadia, led for most of the competition Saturday after spanning 23-10 1/2 in the early rounds. Jenkins equaled that mark in the sixth round, however, and was awarded the victory because his second-best mark was further than Scott’s.

The secondary marks were not included in the official results.

Jenkins’ victory began what should be a eventful weekend for the Viking junior. He’ll be the best man in his brother James’ wedding in Las Vegas today.

The Thousand Oaks girls, runners-up in the 1994 State Division I cross-country championships, used three members of that team along with sprinter Amber Randall to win the distance medley relay in 12:28.75.

Bridget Roy opened the race for the Lancers with a 3:53 split in the 1,200, and she was followed by Randall (59 seconds for the 400), Katie Scherrei (2:30 for 800) and Kim Mortensen (5:04 for 1,600).

Mortensen brought the Lancers from fourth to first on her anchor leg and later finished third in the 3,200 with a time of 11:05.00.

In the boys’ 3,200, Eleazar Hernandez of Camarillo looked strong for the first six laps, but faded badly over the final 800 meters and finished fourth in 9:18.75.

Hernandez, who ran a personal best of 9:05.15 to place fourth in the Arcadia Invitational, led the field through 1,600 meters in 4:31.6 and had a 15-meter lead at the 2,400-meter mark (6:50.9). He appeared to be running on fumes over the final two laps, however, as he timed 2:28 for the last 800.

Brett Strahan of Hart had an up and down meet.

The Indian senior was in third after the first 400 of the invitational 800, but got tangled with another runner shortly thereafter and fell to the track. Although he finished a disappointing 15th in 2:04.93, Strahan bounced back to help Hart to a third-place time of 18:05.89 in the 1,600 relay with a 4:14 second leg.

Bridget Pearson of Toll Junior High in Glendale, Andrea Wasden of Rio Mesa, Stacy Hebert of Buena and Liz Giltner of Chaminade each turned in top performances.

Pearson, an eighth-grader, cleared a personal best of 10-6 to finish fifth in the women’s pole vault, and Wasden timed 14.99 to place second in the second heat of the girls’ invitational 100 high hurdles.

Hebert ran 46.2 to finish third in the second heat of the invitational 300 low hurdles and Giltner cleared 5-6 for third in the invitational high jump.

Several former standouts from the area set personal bests in the invitational distance carnival Saturday night.

Darcy Arreola of the Reebok Aggies, the 1991 NCAA Division I champion in the 1,500 for Cal State Northridge, ran 9:11.06 to finish fourth in the women’s 3,000.

Robert Nelson of Asics Track West, a former standout at Glendale College, timed 8:40.83 to place ninth in the men’s 3,000 steeplechase.

Dave Hartman of Texas San Antonio, the 1991 State champion in the 3,200 for Canyon High, ran an unofficial 13:56 in the men’s 5,000.

Hartman ran a superbly-paced race as he came through 1,600 meters in 4:30, 3,200 in 8:57 and 4,800 in 13:26.

Hartman’s final time cut 13 seconds off his previous best which he set last week.