SOUTHERN SECTION DIVISIONAL TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS : Palmdale’s Arce Uses Kick to Sweep 1,600, 3,200 Meters

To run the 1,600 and the 3,200 meters in next week’s Southern Section Masters Meet or just the 3,200?

That is the question facing Antonio Arce of Palmdale High after he used a withering kick to win the boys’ 1,600 and 3,200 in the Division I competition of the Southern Section divisional track and field championships at Cerritos College on Saturday.

Arce, who has signed a letter of intent with Notre Dame, ran a personal best and region-leading 4 minutes 12.05 seconds in the 1,600 and timed 9:09.73 in the 3,200 to turn back Thousand Oaks’ Jeff Fischer in both events.

With the top nine finishers in each event based on marks advancing to Friday’s Masters Meet, Arce will enter that competition as the top qualifier in both events if he chooses to run them.

The top five finishers in the Masters Meet advance to the State championships at Cerritos on June 2-3, but Arce isn’t sure if he wants to try to double at that level of competition. He might want to concentrate solely on the 3,200, the event in which he placed second in last year’s State meet.

“I’ll just have to see how I feel,” he said. “I’ll have to see how I recover from this and how I feel during workouts this week.”

Arce looked smooth Saturday as he ran the final 400 of the 1,600 in 59.7 and the last lap of the 3,200 in 61.7.

The pace in the 1,600 was slow as defending champion Brett Strahan of Hart led the field through the first 800 in 2:10.7, but things heated up after that as Fischer led at 1,200 meters in 3:12.9.

Fischer launched into a long, drawn-out kick with 350 meters left to open up a 10-meter lead over Arce, but the Falcon senior closed the gap to three meters entering the homestretch and won going away.

Fischer placed second with a personal best of 4:13.80, followed by Crescenta Valley’s Phil Gonzalez (personal best 4:15.55) and Strahan (4:16.03).

In the 3,200, Eleazar Hernandez of Camarillo had a 25-meter lead after 2,000 meters, but Fischer, Arce and Jeff McLarty of Chino Hills Ayala caught him with 600 meters left.

Fischer surged into the lead entering the backstretch, but once again, Arce covered the move and passed him in the final 70 meters.

Arce’s time was the third-fastest of his career while Fischer (9:10.46) missed his personal best by .04 seconds. He was followed by McLarty (9:11.33), Gonzalez (personal best of 9:12.66) and Hernandez (9:13.82).

“I was just going for the win, I wasn’t worried about time,” Arce said. “I felt a little tired because of the 1,600, but that’s normal.”

Amy Skieresz of Agoura turned in the best double of her career, but had to settle for second place behind Courtney Pugmire of Anaheim Esperanza in both the girls’ 1,600 and 3,200 in the Division I meet.

Skieresz had the lead entering the homestretch in each race, but Pugmire streaked past her both times for personal-bests of 4:51.03 and 10:38.46.

Skieresz’ time of 4:52.70 broke Deena Drossin’s school record (4:52.78) from 1991 and moved her into seventh on the all-time region list, and her 10:41.41 clocking in the 3,200 was the third-fastest of her career.

“I knew she was going to come, but I just didn’t have another gear,” Skieresz said of Pugmire.

Several other athletes turned in region-leading marks, led by Nicole Campbell and Ramsey Jay of Ventura, Andrea Wasden of Rio Mesa, Kevin Marsden of Thousand Oaks and the Palmdale’s girls’ 1,600 relay team.

Campbell, a sophomore, came from 10 meters down in the final straightaway to win the girls’ Division II 800 in a personal best of 2:15.43 and Jay finished second in the boys’ Division II 400 in 47.94.

Wasden moved to eighth on the all-time region list in the 300 lows with a second-place time of 43.89 in the Division II meet after finishing third in the 100 highs in a wind-aided 14.38.

She also anchored the Spartans to a sixth-place and season-best time of 3:59.99 in the 1,600 relay.