Menlo News June 01, 2025

State meet: Pretre wins silver; Taira, Hauser finish strong

Pretre 2nd in 3200m; Hauser 15th 1600m Taira 19th in 3200m

Menlo’s Veronica Taira, Will Hauser and Landon Pretre closed their Knights careers at the state championships.

Menlo senior Landon Pretre takes a turn of the 3200 at the state meet

Menlo senior Veronica Taira, third from left, starts the 3200

Menlo School seniors Landon Pretre, Veronica Taira, and Will Hauser closed their high school running careers on the state stage Friday and Saturday at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Landon Pretre (1) took silver in the 3200m at statePretre took home the silver medal, crossing the finish line in 8:54.25, his third-fastest time ever in his fourth state meet. Hauser was 15th in the 1600m in 4:11.10 and Taira placed 19th in the girls’ 3200m in 10:46.50 .
Pretre will be running unattached in the Nike Nationals, but the state meet was his final of his prep career. He appreciates the level of competition he’s had in this Northern California distance hotbed, many of them from state cross country scene as well, such as Eyan Turk of Woodcrest Christian, who won the state 3200m and Eli Fichen Young of Santa Cruz who was fourth. Pretre holds the top 3200 time in the state (8:48.57 CCS final) and is 12th in the nation. He is sixth in the state in the 1600 (4:06.23).

“I don’t think it’s really hit me yet that I’m done with high school running, but I think before the race, I was just reflecting on how lucky I have been to be running in such a competitive state and area,” Pretre said. “At the end of the day it’s been more meaningful to put myself out there against the best of the best in California and prepare to push myself to my limit at each and every race. I think the atmosphere of competitiveness and excellence in California distance running is what I’ll be most grateful for at the end of the day.”

While the 3200 runners go straight to the finals, Hauser ran the 1600 trials on Friday, In a deep, competitive field, he finished 15th, running his second-fastest time of 4:11.10. Hauser holds the sixth-fastest time in the 1600m in CCS and is 25th in the state.

Taira, who is a relative newcomer to the event, and before last year, was a middle-distance runner and a jumper. Yet, she’s had a quick ascent, capturing the CCS crown two weeks ago, and ran to ninth place at the prestigious Arcadia Invitational in a school-record 10:35.88. The state championship was her second-fastest time ever.

“I think a big part of my success in the 3200 comes from just getting a lot of miles in, so after a good cross country season, I was able to build on that base and develop the speed that I know I had,” Taira said.

All three Menlo runners were coming off wildly successful cross country seasons. Pretre counts the state championship team with Will Hauser, Henry Hauser, Oliver Olbekson, Jared Saal, Amay Srinivasan, and Jonah Block, and its run to 15th at the Nike Cross Nationals as one of his favorite prep career memories.

“The amount of effort and sacrifice everyone put into ithat made it so special,” Pretre said.

Taira and the Menlo girls’ team with Ariya Kaushek, Amelie Giomi, Halle Blanchard, Bella Ewars, Anya Ramani and Emily Dong took silver at CCS and seventh at state.

In the fall, the trio will tke their considerable talents to the collegiate level with Pretre headed to Wake Forest, Taira to Boston College and Hauser to Cornell where they will continue their academic and cross country & track careers.