'22 CROSS COUNTRY PREVIEW Central Coast Section

Quick glance at all five divisions

Bellarmine will once again be led by one of the best coaches in the section, Patrick McCrystle. With the nearly 200 boys on the roster each season, the Bells will continue to have the most depth of any team and will be tough to beat in this division.

The Palo Alto boys will be favored to win this division and they will be led by one of the best runners in the section, Grant Morgenfeld (pictured above). Along with Morgenfeld, Palo Alto will also have Eoin O'Connell who had a spectacular spring with personal bests of 4:21.14 and 9:34.54. Alex Gao will also give Palo Alto a strong trio of runners with his 4:37.05 and 9:30.87 PRs.

Last year, the Santa Cruz boys narrowly edged out St. Ignatius by one point to win their first section team title. This year, a new slew of teams will be competing in this division and we could have another surprise winner this coming November. After the usual suspects of St. Ignatius, Aptos, and Sacred Heart Cathedral, other teams like Junipero Serra and Willow Glen might also contend for state meet berths.

Last season, Scotts Valley swept this division, and their boys also finished 3rd at the California State Cross Country meet to capture one of those elusive state meet plaques. This year, this division should be wide open with many new teams dropping down into this division with the newfound hope of making a trip to Fresno in November. Among the contenders will be North Monterey County and Riordan although the favorite might be last year's Division 3 champion, Santa Cruz. They will be led by impressive sophomore Eli Fitchen-Young who posted 4:22.80 and 9:43.38 personal bests this past track season.

The Crystal Springs Uplands School boys have won the last seven section titles in this division. They won their 10th overall title last season as they edged Nueva 39 to 44. This season, the favorite to win will be Menlo School. They will be led by the Pretre brothers, Justin and Landon. Both were super impressive during the 2021 spring track and field season as Justin was the WBAL MVP and Landon qualified for the California State Track and Field meet in the 3200m.