THE TIMES 1995 SPRING ALL-COUNTY TEAMS : Pugmire Unrelenting in Her Will to Win : Athlete of the year: Esperanza distance star is amiable, but on the track she is all business.

When distance ace Courtney Pugmire steps onto the track in the gold and maroon of Esperanza, something mysterious happens.

It’s not bad thing, however, unless you’re wearing different colors or have any intention of being first to the finish line, but a change similar to the full-moon/werewolf phenomena.

Pugmire, 17, amiable and quick-witted, transforms into an unrelenting, win-at-all-costs victory-seeking missile.

Pugmire, The Times’ Orange County girls’ track and field athlete of the year, will have matching honors when she enrolls at Brigham Young University in the fall.

After a fruitful cross-country season in which she also was athlete of the year, Pugmire got better with each week.

It was a bookend kind of year.

Still, track is Pugmire’s passion. Although she wears a white tank top and shorts instead of a two-piece suit, she is all business.

Her track season opened and closed similarly, but everything in-between was done in typical Pugmire fashion, running with the pedal down, sometimes when there was no gas left in her tank.

As much as she carried her team, winning the 800-, 1,600- and 3,200-meter races in a disappointing dual-meet loss to Edison to open the season, Pugmire couldn’t hold back the tears after the loss.

The end, the State Championships at Cerritos College last Saturday, also was a tearful occasion, but this time, not for the team.

It was Courtney’s time to run for herself.

After a second-place finish in the 1,600 in a county-leading and personal-best time of 4 minutes 50.47 seconds, Pugmire felt the same feeling as that day in early March.

Never mind that she had just run the second-fastest time in the state this season. Or lost for only the first time in the event all season. Or that she produced the ninth-best county time. She just wasn’t satisfied.

To say Pugmire has high aspirations is one thing, but she could have thought about all the other distance runners she left in her wake the previous three months.

First, there were all those girls at the county championships who didn’t win as she did in the 800, 1,500 and 3,000 meters that day, almost single-handedly winning the team title.

There also was the time she won two section Division I titles on the same day. And there also was that day at Cerritos College, where she ran the fastest 3,200 by a county athlete and the best prep performance in over eight years to win the Masters Meet.

Pugmire will remember that performance for a long time. And if she forgets, there will always be a record book to jog her memory.