Former Palmdale Runners Stay Ahead of Pack in 5K : Distance running: LaPlant, 30, finishes first in the Independence Day run, 12 seconds ahead of Arce.

The pride of Palmdale High past defeated the pride of Palmdale High present in the Independence Day Classic 5K Run on Tuesday when Mark LaPlant of Asics Track West powered away from Antonio Arce and his fellow pursuers in the race’s final two miles.

LaPlant, a 1983 graduate of Palmdale, clocked 15 minutes 3 seconds over the 5,000-meter course that started at Newhall Memorial Park and wound through the surrounding neighborhoods before finishing on the Hart High track.

Arce, who won the 3,200 in last month’s Golden West Invitational in his final meet for Palmdale, placed second in 15:15, followed by Dave Hartman (15:27) of Texas San Antonio and Paul De La Cerda (15:29) of Adams State.

LaPlant, 30, looked strong and appeared to be running well within himself during the race, but that was not the case.

“We’ve been training real hard so I was pretty tired from the start,” he said. “I never really felt that good. The race hurt more than it probably should have.”

LaPlant, De La Cerda and Dan Berkeland of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo led the field through the first mile in 4:45 with Arce and Jed Colvin of Cal Lutheran another second back. LaPlant opened a five-second lead over Arce, De La Cerda and Colvin in the next half-mile and had a nine-second advantage on Arce (9:44-9:53) at two miles.

“I didn’t make a big move after the mile,” LaPlant said. “I was thinking more along the lines of just maintaining my pace than picking it up and I think that’s what happened. Actually, we all faded a little bit, but I faded least.”

Arce, who took a week and a half off from training after his Golden West victory June 10, said he was satisfied with his performance as he starts preparing for his first collegiate cross-country season at Notre Dame.

“I wasn’t planning to race for a while, but my coach wanted me to see where I was at,” Arce said. “I figured I’d run around 15:30, but then when I saw who was here, I thought, ‘Oh man, this is going to be a pretty good race.’ ”

Hartman, who ran a personal best of 13:56.40 in the 5,000 in the Mt. San Antonio College Relays in April, moved from sixth to third in the last half-mile, but the 1991 state 3,200 champion from Canyon High was never in the hunt. He too had recently taken time off from training.

Colvin placed fifth in 15:35, and Berkeland was sixth in 15:47.

Tracy Rose of Newhall ran 17:39 to easily win the women’s competition.

A recent inductee in the Cal State Northridge Sports Hall of Fame for her accomplishments as a swimmer in the mid-1980s, Rose was making a farewell appearance of sorts. She’ll move to Atlanta later this week to begin training for the marathon and a berth in the 1996 U.S. Olympic Trials.

Rose, 32, ran a noteworthy 2 hours 56 minutes 1 second in her first marathon last November, but tragedy struck Christmas Day when her husband Rick died of a heart attack.

“I’m going to start a new part of my life with my son in Atlanta,” Rose said. “This is kind of a way to finally put a closure on everything that’s happened. The people in the Santa Clarita Valley running community have been very supportive of me since I moved out here and this was a nice way to say goodby.”

Jessica De La Cerda of Oklahoma State, the younger sister of Paul, finished second in the women’s division at 19:03, followed by Jill Walker (19:14), who ran for CSUN in the early 1980s.