Senior Trad Berti has broken six school records in cross country and track during his four years on the teams. In cross country, the records were broken at the Arroyo Grande, Morro Bay, Stanford and Clovis meets. His most well known record breaker was his 4:09.1 minute mile at the Meet of Champions in Azusa, where he beat San Luis Obispo High School’s top runner Callum Bolger.
Berti runs 10 miles everyday for a total of about 10 hours per week to stay in shape and ready for his upcoming races. He runs with his friend, senior Luis Armendariz, to encourage each other to push themselves to the limit and make future runs easier. He is currently placed first in the PAC-8 league for the 1600 meter and second for the 3200 meter.
Berti has always enjoyed the sport and started his journey at nine years old. In fourth grade, his interest was sparked due to his cheering classmates and numerous plastic gold feet on his shoelaces.
“In elementary school and middle school everyone thought I was the best at running and the fame motivated me. It was a gift and i wanted to take advantage of it,” Berti said.
When Berti was a freshman, he joined varsity on cross country and track. With running as his main passion, Berti put all his heart into making gains on his times and performing his best. As a freshman, the pressure of school and a new environment held him back from running everyday and on the off season. However, Ivan Huff, Berti’s coach, pushed him to try his hardest and to train everyday.
“He pretty much motivated me to take action and my gift,” said Berti. “He was definitely a motivator during workouts… all the other teammates and other teams, AG or SLO, look at Huff as a coach that helps other teams from other schools as well”.
“The thing I am most proud of about Trad is his competitiveness. When Trad is on and feeling good, he makes it look easy. He has beautiful running form when he is racing hard,” Huff said.
With the start of his sophomore cross country season, he was a good varsity runner who was a major factor in how the cross country team made it to the state meet three years in a row.
Trad has steadily improved each season, and is now one of the best distance runners in the state.
“He has had a lot of success his junior and senior year, setting many ‘school’ course records in cross country and holds the 1600 and 3200 school records,” Huff said.
Berti will attend Chico State University this fall and run primarily long distance for their team.
“I look forward to training really hard with Gary Town, the head coach for Chico and looking forward to race with the guys out there.” said Berti, who cites PRHS alumni Zach Chamberlain, who runs for Chico, as an inspiration.
His goal for freshman year is to make the team and go to the national NCAA, which is a non-profit association that holds competitions for athletes. For his junior or senior year, he hopes to Junior Olympics.
Berti’s other inspirations are Steve Prefontaine and Matthew McConaughey. Prefontaine was a professional runner who Berti says helped him enjoy running and push for the best. McConaughey helped him enjoy life and be a good person, according to Berti.
In the 3200 meter, Berti has greatly decreased his time from a freshman to his senior year. In 9th grade he ran 10:00.47, 10th grade 9:37.41, 11th grade 9:31.14, and 12th grade 9:10.70.
