Jones Expects to Stay Busy in Arcadia Meet : Track and field: Thousand Oaks High senior record-holder plans to focus on the long jump but also will run two sprints and anchor a relay.

Marion Jones of Thousand Oaks High might spend more time running from one event to another than she will competing in tonight’s Arcadia Invitational track and field meet.

Jones, the three-time defending state champion in the girls’ 100 and 200 meters, added the long jump to her repertoire this year to “add some spice to my life.” The extra event also will increase her already busy schedule.

Jones, the national record-holder in the girls’ 200 (22.58 seconds), first will run the anchor leg for Thousand Oaks’ 400 relay team at 6:45 p.m. She will begin the long jump at 7:30, and, if she’s fortunate, will get in two jumps before running in the 100 at 7:45.

After the 100, she will return to the long jump pit for the remainder of her six allotted jumps and will conclude her night’s work with the 200 at 9:10.

“I just want to jump over 20 feet,” said Jones, who has the top high school jump in the nation this year (19 feet 10 3/4 inches). “Whatever comes in the sprints will come. I’m more concerned about getting my marks down in the long jump than I am about specific times.”

Jones, who has signed a letter of intent to play basketball and run track for North Carolina, will encounter strong competition in her quest to win three individual events.

Sheena Ferguson of San Francisco Washington High and Cheaza Figueroa of Quartz Hill, the top two returners in the state, are entered in the long jump along with two others who have leaped 19 feet.

Junior Jennifer Wilson of Philadelphia Penn High, the No. 2 returning 200 (23.53) sprinter in the nation, is entered in the 200 and 100 along with Long Beach Poly’s superb sophomore, Aminah Haddad. Another talented Long Beach Poly sophomore, Andrea Anderson, is entered in the 100.

“Arcadia is the best meet in the nation to set a national (high school) record,” said Jones, who timed a then-national sophomore and age-15 record of 22.87 in the 200 in the 1991 meet. “It’s just a great place to compete.”

The field for the boys’ high jump could be the meet’s most talent-laden. Four jumpers have cleared at least seven feet this season and an additional three have cleared 6-10 1/4 or higher. Camarillo junior Jeremy Fischer, one of three in the field to have cleared 7-1, figures it might take a personal best to win.

“I’m just going to jump against the bar this weekend,” he said. “I’m not going to worry about the other guys. If I jump 7-1 and get beat, that’s the way it goes.”

The distance races will showcase many of the region’s leading performers. Agoura sophomore Amy Skieresz, who finished third in the Kinney national cross-country championships in December, will compete in the girls’ 1,600. Seniors Maribella Aparicio of Fillmore--second in last year’s state championships--and Karen Bockel of Nordhoff will run in the 3,200.

Ryan Wilson of Agoura and Paul De La Cerda of Hart are entered in the boys’ 1,600, and Hoover’s Margarito Casillas, the 1992 state Division I cross-country champion, is one of the leading entrants in the 3,200.

Other top entries from the region include Drue Powell of Reseda in the boys’ 110 high hurdles and Jesse Stern of Harvard-Westlake in the pole vault. Powell, who is coming back from a groin injury, placed third in the high hurdles in last year’s state championships, and Stern placed fourth in the pole vault.

Field events will begin at 4 p.m. with the boys’ discus. The running events will start at 6:35 with the boys’ seeded 400-meter relay.