BY GREG LUCA | STAFF WRITER
DONNA — For Donna High’s Vince Castillo, the two-time defending state champion in the 300-meter hurdles, Saturday was all about
buying time.
He needed only to coast through the District 32-5A meet to earn another two weeks to rest his injured hamstring before regionals.
Even after almost a month without a competitive race, everything went according to plan for Castillo, as he cruised to wins in both the 110-meter and 300 hurdles to punch his ticket to the next round.
“I feel really good, really confident,” Castillo said. “The strategy for today was to get back used to the races, buy myself another two weeks, and have another two weeks to plan and to get back on track for regionals.”
At the Judson Relays last month in Converse, Castillo said he felt the strain in his right hamstring as he passed the second hurdle of the 300, jogging through the rest of the race.
For the next two weeks, his practice routine consisted mostly of stretching and jogging.
Castillo started slowly going over hurdles two weeks ago, and on Monday, Donna’s trainer cleared Castillo to get back in cleats and start practicing the 110. In the 300, all Castillo worked on was his approach.
After every rep, hurdles coach Guillermo Cuellar would check with Castillo to make sure he was OK.
“That’s what I told him this whole time: Just get in, qualify, and buy some more time to get better,” Cuellar said.
After taking a 45-minute warmup, holding every stretch a few seconds longer than usual and putting even more attention towards staying hydrated, Castillo opened his day by running the 110 hurdles at what he called 80 percent effort. That was still enough to run a 14.54 — a beat slower than his season-best of 14.22 and the 14.07 he ran at state last year, but enough to win the district title by a full second over Joel Gomez of Mercedes.
Castillo said he brought that same effort level to the 300, building a huge lead before coasting through the final 100 meters, calmly measuring his steps before each hurdle and pulling up a few meters before the finish line. His final time of 39.45 was well off his season best of 38.40 and his career best of 36.71, but it was more than 2 seconds faster than the next closest finisher.
“I make sure I get out with a nice, comfortable lead, and I’ll hear my coach tell me to shut it down or pick it up,” Castillo said. “I heard I was right where I’m supposed to be, so I just kind of coasted it in or played it safe.”
In reality, Castillo was ahead of where he needed to be. Cuellar said that he told Castillo leading up to the race to aim for an even easier mark.
“We’re trying to hold him back a little bit here, but he’s still running sub-40s,” Cuellar said. “I’m thinking that’s as slow as he can go.”
After another week of treatment, Castillo will start to ramp up his training for the regional competition. Cuellar said that final week is when Castillo will “start actually, really attacking.”
At regionals, Castillo hopes to hit at least 37.5 seconds in the 300, and 14.0 seconds in the 110. His goal, just like last season, is to peak at state, claiming a third consecutive title in the 300 and breaking the Valley record of 36.46. That mark was set in 2011 by Randy Bermea of Harlingen High.
“The Valley record will go down,” Castillo said. “I try my best, and records are meant to be broken. That’s why they have them.”