Skieresz Leaves Field Hamstrung, Wins 1,600 : High school track: Jones wins 200 and long jump, leads Thousand Oaks to relay victory.

A sore muscle led to a relaxed attitude and a state-leading mark for Amy Skieresz of Agoura High in the Ventura County track and field championships at Camarillo High on Friday night.

Skieresz and Marion Jones of Thousand Oaks turned in the top individual performances in a meet filled with high-quality efforts.

Skieresz, a sophomore, lowered her personal best by nearly four seconds while winning the 1,600 meters in 4 minutes 53.97 seconds.

Jones timed a nation-leading 23.45 seconds in the 200, won the long jump with a meet record of 20 feet 7 1/2 inches, and ran a 55.3-second leg on Thousand Oaks’ victorious 1,600 meter relay team, which timed 4:04.93. She also ran a storming anchor leg on the Lancers’ 400 relay team, which finished second (49.47) behind Rio Mesa (49.40).

Skieresz’ time, which lowered the previous state-leading mark of 4:57.05 set by Milena Glusac of Fallbrook, was doubly impressive because she wasn’t pushed. She opened up a 10-meter lead on Karen Bockel of Nordhoff after the first 400 (70.2) and extended it to more than 60 meters at the finish.

“Before the race, she said her hamstrings were tight and she was kind of panicking,” Agoura Coach Bill Duley said. “But I just told her to try to run (72-second laps for the first three laps) and then see what happens.”

Skieresz, who finished third in the 1,600 at last year’s state championships, said that she was so concerned about her sore left hamstring that she didn’t really worry about her fast early pace until midway through race.

“It felt OK after the first lap, so I just told myself to concentrate on running the splits we talked about,” Skieresz said. “I’m real happy with the time.”

Jones, three-time defending state champion in the 100 and 200, had a superb series in the long jump, going 20-7 1/2, 20-7, 19-7 and 19-11 3/4.

Her time in the 200 lowered her previous national-leading mark by .04 seconds despite the fact that she visibly eased up in the last 30 meters.

In other events, Jeremy Fischer of Camarillo cleared 6-11 3/4 in the boys’ high jump, Ryan Wilson of Agoura timed 1:55.12 in the boys’ 800, and Crystal Brownlee of Westlake won the girls’ shotput at 44-4.

Fischer, one of three jumpers in the nation to clear 7-2 this season, made the winning height on his second attempt before missing three times at 7-3.

The Scorpion junior came agonizingly close to clearing 7-3 on his second attempt, just brushing the bar off with his behind on the way down.

“I really thought I was going to make (that jump at 7-3),” Fischer said. “I felt like I had the height to make 7-3 when I cleared 6-11 3/4.”

Hueneme freshman Ronnie Jenkins upset Fischer in the long jump, 22-7 1/4 to 21-7 1/2, but Fischer didn’t seem too disappointed.

Wilson, who has signed a letter of intent with Arkansas, hoped to run faster in the 800, but he wasn’t complaining about his time, which lowered his school record of 1:55.2 set last year.

“I couldn’t get myself to really get up and go in the last 200,” Wilson said. “But some of that may have been due to not racing for the last couple of weeks.”

Wilson also ran a leg on Agoura’s victorious 1,600-meter relay team, which timed a school record of 3:21.19.

Brownlee, the region leader in the shotput at 44-9, added two inches to the meet record (44-2) she set last year and defeated Marmonte League rival Dolores Tuimoloau (43-6) in the process.

Tuimoloau came back to win the discus at 123-2 as Brownlee placed a disappointing fifth (110-10).

Ventura sophomore Ramsey Jay and Oak Park senior Alan Duben were double winners in the boys’ meet.

Jay timed a wind-aided 10.90 in the 100 and a personal best of 22.23 in the 200. Duben put the shot 53-6, and threw the discus a personal best and region- leading 161-8.