Agoura Lowers Relay Mark : Prep track: Charger girls set state record in 4 x 1,600 event.

The members of Agoura High’s distance-medley relay team, bitterly disappointed after losing by two-hundredths of a second in last week’s Arcadia Invitational, rebounded with a vengeance at the Mt. San Antonio College Relays on Friday.

The Charger foursome dominated the girls’ invitational 4 x 1,600-meter relay, winning in 20 minutes 29.15 seconds. The time, which converts to 20:36.32 for four miles, is the fastest high school time in the nation this year, the third-fastest time in history and the fastest ever run by a team from California.

Agoura set the previous state best of 20:35.05 at Mt. SAC last year. Brighton High of Rochester, N.Y., set the national record of 20:28.00 in 1985.

“We wanted to run faster than the meet record (20:34.1 set by a Mexican junior team in 1987),” Agoura Coach Bill Duley said. “So I’m happy with the time.”

But he was no happier than freshman Amy Skieresz, who ran a 5:02.8 anchor leg for the Chargers.

Skieresz had run a 5:03 anchor at Arcadia but she was nipped at the wire by Shelley Taylor of Huntington Beach Edison.

“I don’t know about the rest of the team, but that helped as motivation for me,” Skieresz said. “I was disappointed that I got caught last week.”

Senior Laura Hayward ran a 5:11.8 first leg for Agoura. She was followed by sophomore Kay Nekota (5:05.8) and junior Kristie Camp (5:08.7).

Agoura’s victory overshadowed a brilliant performance by Camarillo sophomore Jeremy Fischer, who won the boys’ high jump with a personal best of 6 feet 10 inches.

“Six-10 was my goal at the start of the season,” said Fischer, who cleared the winning height on his third attempt. “That and winning (the Southern Section 3-A Division meet) and going to the state finals. I guess my next goal would be to clear seven feet.”

Fischer set his previous best of 6-8 with a second-place finish at Arcadia.

Mike Wright of Glendale, who had been academically ineligible until this week, looked sharp in his first meet. Wright, the defending Southern Section 4-A Division champion in the long jump, placed second in the invitational portion of that event with a region-leading jump of 23 feet 9 1/2 inches. He also ran on Glendale’s victorious 800-meter relay team, which timed 1:30.40 to win the second heat.

Heather Hanger of Thousand Oaks recorded a pair of personal bests, placing second in her heat of the 100-meter low hurdles in 14.54 and fourth in her heat of the 300 low hurdles in 45.24.

The 100 hurdles time was the fastest in the region this season, and her performance in the 300 hurdles was the second fastest.

Marcus Stokes of Thacher also ran a region-leading mark in the hurdles, winning the first heat of the boys’ 110 highs in 14.41.