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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, May 7, 2006

Kahuku boys, Mililani girls win

Track and field photo gallery
 •  Track and field results

By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer

Kahuku's Redmond Tutor is out in front as he bolts to victory in the 110 hurdles.

ANDREW SHIMABUKU | The Honolulu Advertiser

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Mililani's Britney Stephens, center, sprints to a gold medal in the 100 meters.

ANDREW SHIMABUKU | The Honolulu Advertiser

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MILILANI — Kahuku High School senior Redmond Tutor spiked two fingers on his right hand during the long jump, his first event in yesterday's O'ahu Interscholastic Association track and field championship meet.

But he won anyway with a leap of 22 feet, 9 1/2 inches, then went on to capture four more gold medals — including a record-setting time in the 300 hurdles — to help the Red Raiders win their second OIA title in four seasons at Mililani Stadium.

"Nah, it was minor," Tutor said of his injured pinkie and ring fingers, which were taped. "You don't run with your hands, anyway — you run with your feet."

Tutor's feet were at their best in the 300 hurdles, an event he just learned this season from Punahou assistant coach Walter Thompson. Tutor finished in 38.81 seconds yesterday, eclipsing the mark of 39.44 he set in Thursday's trials.

"I gotta thank Coach Walter," Tutor said. "He's the one who set up the hurdles for me and taught me how to run it. Punahou let me run on their track once a week — even though I'm their competition — and that was truly a lucky thing for me."

Tutor also won the triple jump with an impressive leap of 46-6 1/2 and the 110 hurdles in 14.67 seconds, and also anchored Kahuku's winning 4x400 team by rallying past Mililani's A.J. Clark in dramatic finish to end the night. Tutor started the leg in first place, got overtaken by Clark at the first turn, returned to the lead on the final turn and then outsprinted Clark in the final 100 meters.

"Everybody knows that last 100 meters is a death run," Tutor said. "A.J. showed a lot of guts by taking the lead, so I had to dig deep inside and was able to pull it out."

Red Raiders coach Sean Makaiau said it was a fitting way to end the meet.

"Those were the two best athletes out there running in the same event," Makaiau said. "A.J. is a terrific athlete, and so is Redmond. (Tutor) was just lights out tonight."

Kahuku won the team title with 93 points, holding off Mililani (79 1/2). Roosevelt (41) was third, followed by Leilehua (36), Waipahu (30) and Wai'anae (29).

Mililani, led by junior Britney Stephens' victories in the 100 and 200, easily repeated as the girls champion with 123 points. Kahuku (63) was second, followed by Waipahu (47), Kaiser (46), Leilehua and Kapolei (40 each).

Other than Stephens' gold, the Trojans' only other first-place finish was Nadia Romero's victory in the pole vault (9 feet, 6 inches).

"It was a total team effort — we had 13 girls place out of 16 events," Mililani coach Dane Matsunaga said. "A lot of girls scored points."

Matsunaga noted that with five schools having proms last night, many were short-handed.

"The score doesn't really show how good those other teams are," he said.

Reach Wes Nakama at wnakama@honoluluadvertiser.com.