By Halle Frisco
Staff Writer
Christian Castro has been named the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Men’s Track and Field Athlete of the Week for two consecutive weeks. He earned the honors on Jan. 23 and Jan. 30 of the 2018 indoor track and field season.
Castro is a senior from Vineland, N.J. where he earned track honors such as the Group 4 SJ Sectional Champion 55 hurdles/4×4 relay, First Team Cape Atlantic League in the 4×4 relay, 2x Cumberland County Champion 110 hurdles and 1x 400 hurdles.
Athletes are known for their game day rituals, and Castro is no different. The night before every meet, he takes an ice bath to soothe any sore muscles and prepares his game day bag.
“I always wear the same shirt every meet unless it’s cold. I also make sure I have my blue watch and bracelet on,” he said.
Castro is both a hurdler and a sprinter for ESU’s Track and Field team. His events are the 55m and 60m hurdles and the 55m, 60m and the 200m sprints.
Occasionally, he runs the 4x200m relay during the indoor season.
Former teammate Steve ‘Peanut’ Morgan and current teammate Patrick Monahan are successful runners as well, and Castro uses their success as motivation in his workouts.
“I think Peanut leaving did put the spotlight on me, which I feel put more pressure on me and made me work harder to follow his footsteps and stay top dog,” stated Castro.
“Pat is a great runner, and even though my focus isn’t the sprint events, I do feel that in a way he does push me. He has the school record, and I’ve been trying to break that record,” said Castro.
He currently shares the ESU record in the 60m sprint, earning a time of 6.98 seconds. He matched junior Pat Monahan’s school record on Jan. 27 at Lehigh University’s John Covert Classic.
“My favorite memory so far at ESU was winning Penn Relays. It feels pretty amazing to say we won Penn Relays and beat some Division I schools,” said Castro.
ESU won the men’s shuttle hurdle relay last April, breaking a school record with a time of 58.63 seconds.
He is currently one of the men’s track and field members to qualify provisionally for the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s Indoor Track Championships with an 8.06 second run in the 60m hurdles and a 22.05 second sprint in the 200m.
Castro is double-majoring in computer science and computer security and would one day like to be a network administrator. He will be graduating from ESU this spring.
Email Halle at:
hfrisco@live.esu.edu
