'22 CROSS COUNTRY PREVIEW - Southern Section Boys

Division 4

Boys State Championship qualifiers over the past seven postseasons, Cathedral comes into 2022 as the favorite in Division 4. Unlike the past two seasons where they placed second, the Phantoms look to match the title they earned in 2017.

Emmanuel Perez (pictured) comes in one of the top boys in the division, with a 15:27.0 best at Mt. SAC while fellow junior, Emmanuel Hernandez ran 15:41.7. The latter was one of the top sophomores in the state for the 3200 meters at 9:15.13 while Perez shined with a 9:20.38.  Backed by five other underclass teammates that ran under 4:55 this past Spring, Cathedral's depth will be a challenge for the rest of the division to overcome. The group placed fourth at the 2021 State Championships returning four sophomores from their scoring five.  

St. Francis will be Cathedral's greatest threat after coming off its fifth-place finish in 2021. Luke Metcalf (15:52.4) and Hayden Owen (16:19.1) led way at last year's CIF-SS Finals, with the former coming off a strong track season (4:23.23/9:33.53). Samuel Franco displayed tremendous improvement this past Spring as well and looks to play a vital role.

Coming in from Division 3, St. John Bosco placed fifth at the California State Meet and returns three of their top four. Juniors Andrew Perez (15:47.2) and Aiden Aldana (15:55.1) will lead the Braves to their fifth State Meet in the past six postseasons. Depth is still a question mark but they are loaded up front.

Also moving from Division 3, the boys of Palos Verdes placed eighth in 2021. Losing their top two will pose a challenge, but Matthew Farnsworth (16:10.3) leads a group that returns their other five from that squad. Junior Alex Naehu will go from their seventh scorer to one of their best as he comes in off a 1:56.63/4:21.74 Spring sophomore campaign.

Harvard Westlake is coming off one of their best track seasons in school history and while the numbers might place them lower, what they did collectively for the 3200 meters this past Spring was impressive.  Their top four averaged a 9:58.5 for the event. Grant Sykes returns with a 15:55.9 from the Mt. SAC course, but it was Gabriel Levin that displayed the most improvement (9:44.3).  They placed third in 2021.

Fighting for the final two spots to the State Meet will be Foothill Tech, Bishop Amat, El Segundo, and Burroughs.

Individually, the top returner from the Mt. SAC course is Burroughs (Ridgecrest) senior Yaseen Sardar with his 15:23.5 best after placing second in 2021. Placing fourth and seventh a year respectively, the Cathedral duo of Perez and Hernandez will also be up front vying for the individual title.

Also watch for La Salle's Alex Alvarez, who comes into 2022 with a 15:27.8 best on the Mt. SAC course and placed fifth a year ago. Metcalf of St. Francis was tenth in 2021 while also looking to break into that group will be El Segundo's Luca Romero (15:55.6 in 2021) who also qualified for the State Meet as an individual in 2021.