Colin Peattie won his race with the fastest time of the meet and led his team to victory. (Credit: Eric Taylor)
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SAN FRANCISCO -- Colin Peattie was feeling pretty good when he crossed the finish line on Saturday (Sept. 7) in Golden Gate Park. The Bellarmine College Prep junior won his race in the varsity boys division of the Lowell Invitational with the best time of the day on the 2.95-mile course: 13 minutes, 52.6 seconds.
It was the best time of a foggy afternoon in the park. The grass in the meadow started out wet and ended up muddy so footing was a slight issue.
But not so much for Peattie.
"It felt great," he said. "I know coming down here we had Clovis (North), West Torrance, Arcadia so we had some good competition. I think all the guys were just super-excited to get out and race, myself included, and it just feels great to get the legs moving again. It has been a couple of months since we last raced hard down at Buchanan (at the CIF track championships in May), so I'm just happy to race."
Peattie led the San Jose-based Bells to the team victory in the heat, as the team posted 35 points to beat 
out Clovis North (50). Nolan Topper was fifth for Bellarmine (14:28.3), Clem Welsh seventh (14:34.4) and Galen Topper eighth (14:34.7). Peattie was happy with the team victory. He was also very happy about his time.
"I was surprised," he said. "I think I ran 40-something seconds faster than I did last year. I don't know really how that went down because I thought I ran really hard last year. It's great."
For the record, Peattie was 44.5 seconds faster than his winning time in 2018.
The other varsity boys heat was won by senior Adam Sage of Los Altos. Granada won the team title in that race with 67 points. Los Altos was second with 109.
The winners of the two varsity girls races had nearly identical times. Lauren Soobrian of Los Altos won the first race in 16:39.3 and sophomore Miliana Perez of Clovis North won the second race in 16:39.7.
"I felt really good, actually," Perez said. "I'm looking to get as high as I can in state and just get my team closer and get my team up there."
Miliana Perez Interview
Charlotte Tomkinson of the Menlo School finished second in Soobrian's race. She helped lead Menlo to the team championship as the Greyhounds scored 58 points, ahead of Palo Alto's 92. Granada won first place in the other heat with 75 points.
One of the best races of the day was the junior varsity girls which ran as a single division. Sophie Alexis, a senior at Palo Alto Gunn, was leading down the stretch but San Mateo Aragon junior Niyati Reddy came flying down the chute and nipped Alexis at the finish line. Reddy recorded an 18:53.5 and Alexis finished in 18.53.7.
"I heard my coaches and my teammates say, 'You can push it,' " Reddy said. "With about 20 meters, I thought, 'I have to at least try,' so I literally gave it all I had. This was the first time I had done real training during the summer so I had no idea where I was compared to last year."
Said Alexis, "I was finishing. At the last second, she passed me. It was incredible. I just did my best, she did her best, and it was just a great race. It was amazing."
Alex Jenkins of Clovis North had the best time in junior varsity boys. The junior won his heat in 15:30.4. Joshua Fan, a junior from Arcadia, won the other heat in 15:57.3.
Placerville El Dorado freshman Benjamin Salle won one of the heats in the boys sophomore division (11:38.3). Tommy Rogers of San Mateo Serra took the other race in 11:36.2. Bellarmine and Palo Alto were the team winners.
Maya Mason, a freshman at University High of San Francisco, won one race of the frosh-soph girls division in 12:54.9. Adeline Johnson, a freshman from Tamalpais, won the other in 13:17.7. University won its division and Palo Alto won the other.
In freshman boys, it was Boden Sirey of Los Altos winning the first race in 11:46.2. Justin Pretre of the Menlo School won the other in 11:46.4. Palo Alto and Granada were the team champions.
The lower divisions ran a 2.1-mile course.
