Campbell’s Putegnat Takes A Busy Schedule In Stride
By Jack Danilewicz
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It may be over-stretching it to say that Campbell High School’s Christian Putegnat lives his life as if in a race against time.
If anything, the distance runner extraordinaire is one not to waste his time.A typical day for Putegnat begins at 4:30 a.m. with a long run. At 6,when much of Honolulu is just beginning to stir, its over to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where he joins a group for Bible reading. By 8, he’s at the high school, ready for a full day of classes. From there, it’s on to practice to run some more.
Not that he minds this phase of his day. He’d run to Lahaina if it was feasible.
“A lot of my friends,even my running friends,think I’m crazy for running so much, but it’s what I do,” he said. “I just enjoy running. Psychologically, the run is a high.”
Last year, Putegnat also managed to squeeze in extra time to fulfill a goal of running 1,000 miles in a year - at an average of 4 miles a day, five days a week.
“I ran 1,001 miles,“said Putegnat, who also completed the Honolulu Marathon in December. “I’d been injured so I had some miles to make up at the end. On the last day, I ran 6 miles and I was so excited to finish.”
As the Hawaii prep track season began last week with the first official practice, perhaps no one had higher expectations for this spring than Putegnat himself,who finished sixth at the state cross country meet last October, in addition to a third-place finish in the OIA. Last year Putegnat finished third in the 1,500-meter run and fifth in the 3,000 at the state track and field championships at Mililani High School.
While those types of results will likely bring scholarship offers for track and field, Putegnat expects to enroll at BYU next fall whether or not his tuition is covered.
“I’m Mormon, so BYU is my No. 1. I’ve been accepted there, and I’ve talked to the coach so I should have a spot on the team if I can get a little faster. The only thing that might change is if I were to get into Harvard or Stanford,” added Putegnat, who also considered Portland and the Florida Institute of Technology.
Putegnat’s options are many given his gift for concentration in the classroom. He currently has a grade-point average of 4.259 and is first in his class at Campbell. If he does go to BYU, he will likely take a two-year mission after his sophomore year.
At Campbell, Putegnat has also played soccer, but running quickly overtook all athletic interests during his sophomore year after a good showing for the Sabers during the spring.He had moved with his family from Parker, Colo., in time for the second semester of his freshman year.
“My dad (Matthew Putegnat) is a surfer and we were living in Colorado, and he just couldn’t handle it anymore, so we picked up and moved out here,“he explained.
“I did well that year (in track and field) and I was encouraged by my family, teammates and friends (to continue training),” he said. “I look at soccer more now as cross-training.I like to focus more on cross country and track and field.”
Even so, soccer has played a large role in his development as a runner as it gave him an introduction to competitive sports.“I played soccer at a young age - year round - so I was never not active. I had to start somewhere just like everyone else, but that helped because I was already conditioned.“I definitely want to continue running in college.”
Putegnat is especially close to his father, who ran track and field during his own high school days in Florida - albeit not distance events. The two of them go surfing together when time allows.
“He supports me in everything I do,” Putegnat said of his father. “We’re real close.”
In time,the name of Putegnat also may be known for his younger brother, John-Paul, who currently is a student at Ilima Intermediate School. “He ran summer track and also ran for his middle school during the (track) season. After I ran the marathon, he said he wanted to run a marathon, too.”
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