COMMITTED CORNER COMMITTED CORNER Justin Pretre, Cross Country and Track, UC Berkeley

by GEOFFERY FRANC

On Oct. 6, senior Justin Pretre announced his commitment to run Division I cross country and track and field at UC Berkeley.

When he ran his first meet, Pretre was only eight years old. “I kind of thought that it looked like fun, so I jumped into one race [not representing a team],” Pretre said. “And then I qualified for nationals because like zero 8-year-olds run.”

Pretre played other sports as a kid, including soccer and basketball. In ninth grade, he started running more competitively, leading him to quit soccer in tenth grade to focus on running.

Since then, Pretre has competed in a variety of local, state and national races for both cross country and track and field. He finished off the 2021 cross country season by placing 14th at the California Interscholastic State Cross Country Championships. Pretre is currently the fastest cross country runner in the West Bay Athletic League, according to Athletic.net, having placed first at all league meets. During the spring 2022 track and field season, Pretre placed seventh at the Nike Indoor Nationals one mile race.

He credited much of his improvement to the coaches at Menlo. “Coach Jorge has really done a good job to develop me and keep me from getting burned out,” Pretre said of the head coach.

Pretre said his commitment decision came to UC Berkeley or Yale. “It was a really tough decision,” he said.

He ultimately decided on Cal because he saw that runners were able to excel in both athletics and academics and because he enjoyed his official visit. “I felt like I fit in with the team super well,” Pretre said.

UC Berkeley’s offer was also attractive to Pretre because of the school’s location in the Bay Area. “I like the proximity to a bunch of really cool places to run,” he said.

Pretre’s mom, Tina Lount-Pretre, said she was excited for him when he committed to Cal. “I felt happy he’s going to be close by.”