TRACK AND FIELD / ORANGE COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS : Workhorse Pugmire Carries Esperanza Girls to Team Title

Courtney Pugmire wasn’t wearing a saddle at the Orange County Championships at Trabuco Hills, but she should have.

Esperanza rode her all the way to the team title Saturday as the senior won the 800-, 1,500- and 3,000-meter races en route to the team’s third consecutive title.

“(My coaches) didn’t want me to run all three once the meet started going well,” said Pugmire, the distance event athlete of the meet for the second year in a row. “But I decided to run it anyways. I didn’t want to look like a wimp.”

Pugmire started with a victory in the 1,500, running 4 minutes 39.2 seconds for the metric mile. She held off teammate Carrie Caulkins, who was second in 4:42.2.

Pugmire, a senior, came back to win the 800 (2:18.48), again edging Caulkins (2:19.20).

Pugmire finished by posting a 10:21.33 in the 3,000 to beat Fountain Valley’s Angie Winkler (10:22.95).

The Aztecs scored 104 points, easily beating Woodbridge (62) and Edison (57).

Pugmire wasn’t the only multiple winner. Sprinters Meisha Wilson-Duval of Woodbridge and Bryan Harrison of Dana Hills also did the trick.

For Wilson-Duval, injured most of last season after a stellar sophomore year, the 200-400 double victory was very sweet.

“The 200 is my toughest race,” said Wilson-Duval, who took charge on the opening turn. “I always have my problems on that curve.”

Wilson-Duval ran 25.02 to win the shorter of her two races, all after running a county-leading 56.99 to win the 400.

For Harrison, fast times are becoming second nature.

Harrison ran a wind-aided 10.59 for victory in the 100, then came back to win the 200 with a wind-aided 21.45.

The Woodbridge girls’ 400 relay of Heaven Yoshino, Erin Stovall, Jackie Dix and Wilson-Duval produced the fastest performance in the history of the event, winning in 47.45.

Brethren Christian seniors Steve Michels and Brandon Pacheco helped the Warriors finish sixth in the team race, winning three events between them.

Michels, the county leader in the pole vault at 15 feet 8 1/2 inches, vaulted 15-2 to win by more than a foot.

Pacheco won both the 1,500 (4:00.29) and 800 (1:56.11).

The latter race found Pacheco, a senior, behind Huntington Beach junior Jess Strutzel, the winner of the 400 in 48.59, with 100 meters to go.

“I waited for him to pass me, then I took it on the last straight away,” Pacheco said. Strutzel finished second in 1:56.93.

Esperanza junior Kelly O’Conner posted the county’s second-best mark in the triple jump, leaping 39-7 1/2 for the victory.

Esperanza scored 70 points to win the boys’ title, followed by Dana Hills (36) and Tustin (34).

Notes

Laguna Hills sophomore Tayyiba Haneef won the high jump, leaping 5-8 to beat defending State champion Kristy Kierulff of Esperanza . . . Trabuco Hills freshman Darnisha Griffith won the long jump with an 18-0 leap. . . . Edison senior Jason Bader beat University’s Sepeher Sharifi in the discus with a throw of 180-7. Sharifi posted a 179-10. . . . Tustin sophomore Dominique Degrammont beat Esperanza senior Anton Hector in the 110 high hurdles with a county-best time of 14.2. Hector finished in 14.3. . . . Hector won the 300 intermediate hurdles in 39.34, edging Foothill’s Dan Foote (39.35) and Degrammont (39.36).