AGE 16 OR 73, RUNNERS CHASE STRENGTH, FUN.

Byline: GIDEON RUBIN Special to the Daily News

PALMDALE -- Jeremy Acosta is a 16-year-old cross-country competitor in high school who joined the High Desert Runners Association to stay sharp in the summer months.

Longtime member Roger Wood, 73, competes in the annual seven-week series mostly to stay fit.

It is with both objectives in mind that HDRA continues holding its evening summer meets.

More than 120 area runners competed in Week 2 of the 31st annual Antelope Valley Summer All-Comers Cross-Country Series at Pelona Vista Park in Palmdale.

The weekly meets for both male and female runners are on Thursday evenings, with sign-ups beginning at 6 p.m. at the north end of the park at Tierra Subida Road and Rayburn Road.

The one-mile preliminary fun run begins about 6:30 p.m. and the three-mile race about 6:45. Although no entry fee is charged, donations are accepted to help pay for expenses and for awards after the final meet scheduled for Aug. 10.

The meets were developed as an adjunct program to go along with a running class at Antelope Valley College, meet director Alan Brown said.

Brown said it is important to keep the program going because it is the only such event that allows runners of all ages and abilities to compete in an informal environment.

``The original purpose -- to provide strength and conditioning to cross-country runners -- is still valid, but it's not limited to that. About half are high school and middle school students; the rest are adults competing recreationally.''

Acosta (Desert Christian High) won the three-mile race in 17 minutes and 11 seconds. Caitlin Fitzgerald (Highland) was the top female runner, placing 28th overall in 22:08.

Joey Whiting (Highland) won the one-mile race in 6:17. Elizabeth McConaughey was the top-placing female, finishing eighth overall in the one-mile in 7:08.

``I figured some of the runners from high school were here, and I wanted to compete against some of them and have fun,'' Acosta said.

Acosta won Thursday's race despite running the course six seconds slower than he did in Week 1 of the series on June 29, when former Antelope Valley High standout Jose Melena, who now competes for UC Riverside, won in 16:30. Melena did not compete in Thursday's race.

Runners need to compete in at least three of the six preliminary runs to qualify for the Aug. 13 championship race.

Wood, the event's oldest runner, placed 78th overall in 30:37, ahead of a dozen or so other runners. Wood was coming off a first-place finish in the Fourth of July race in Newhall, ahead of six other runners in the over-70 category.

He said he still runs in events such as the All-Comers Run ``to stay healthy and to check myself against other runners my age. There aren't too many of them.''

The All-Comers Run was first held on a grueling course at Rattlesnake Hill in Quartz Hill in 1975. It was moved to another difficult course on a since-developed Rancho Vista site. It has been held for five years at Pelona Vista, where most of the course is on an undeveloped portion of the park near the 14 Freeway.

The event is funded by participants' donations.

Brown said Palmdale city officials have been ``super-cooperative,'' and he hopes to keep the run going at its current site.

``From the beginning, we did it as an all-comers meet so adults and little kids could mix it up, and that's the way it's continued ever since,'' Brown said.

gideon.rubin(at)dailynews.com

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