All-Sun Belt Conference
2007 Cross Country: Ran in four races and was the team’s top finisher at the 8,000-meter FSU invitational, ending in 30th place with a time of 28:19.36...Crossed the finish line twice as FIU’s second finisher at both the Greater Louisville Classic and the Walt Disney Classic...Recorded a season-best time of 26:12.56 at the Louisville Classic...Placed 50th at the Sun Belt Conference Championships (28:44.40).
2007 Outdoors: Posted three top-10 finishes... Placed sixth in the 3,000 meter steeplechase at the Golden Knight Twilight in 10:02.71... Had a season-best 9:56.79 in the 3K steeple to place 10th among collegians at the Florida Relays... Was eighth among collegians at the Golden Knight Twilight in the 5,000 meters with a 16:22.02... Ran a season-best 15:16.56 in the 5K at the Florida Relays... Ran a 4:08.65 for 22nd at the Hurricane Invitational, the team’s third best performance and his lone 1,500 meter run.
2007 Indoors: Captured All-Sun Belt accolades as the anchor leg of FIU’s third-place DMR at the conference championships, crossing the line in 10:17.15... Was FIU’s top performer in both the mile and the 3,000 meters... Ran an 8:56.83 at the Florida Intercollegiate to finish fourth among collegians in the 3,000... Posted a 4.21.59 in the mile at the Gator Invitational to place 14th among collegians... Also was third among collegians in the mile at the Florida Intercollegiate with a time of 4:26.00.
2006 Cross Country: Ran his only race of the season at the NCAA South Regional where he finished with FIU’s second-fastest time (34:40.3) in the 10,000-meter event.
2006 Outdoors: Runner-up in the 5,000 meters at the Golden Knights Twilight, going on to record a season-best time of 15:42.35 in the event at the Sun Belt Conference Championships... Scored for the Golden Panthers at the SBC Championships, with a seventh-place finish in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in a season-best time of 9:50.64... Placed fourth in the steeplechase at the Miami Elite Invitational.
2006 Indoors: Placed among the top-five collegians in the mile at the Pepsi Invitational in 4:46.48, and went on to finish seventh among collegians in the 3,000 meters at the same meet.
2005 Indoors: recorded the team’s top time in the mile, finishing in 4:33.01 at the Sun Belt Conference Championships... Scored at that meet, helping the distance medley relay to a fifth-place finish.
2004 Outdoors: Placed sixth among collegians in the 10,000 meters at the Florida Relays in a season-best 34:44.10... Posted a season-best time of 4:23.36 in the 1,500 meters at the Hurricane Invitational.
2004 Indoors: Turned in the team’s top time in the 3,000 meters, finishing in 9:25.25 at the Sun Belt Conference Championships.
2003 Cross Country: Competed in five meets, posting the team’s top time in the 8,000 meters, crossing the line in 27:58.90 to place in the top 15 at the FIU Invitational... Also among the top-15 collegians at the Sailfish Invitational... Team’s top finisher at the Sun Belt Conference Championships.
Prep: Competed in soccer, badminton, cross country and track & field at Felix Varela... As a senior, was named Athlete of the Year by school’s Hall of Fame... Earned team MVP honors in both cross country and badminton... Also earned academic student-athlete accolades... Cross country and track team captain... Set school record in the 3,200 meters... Soccer team won the district title and finished runner-up in the region in 2003.
Personal: Born June 5, 1985... Parents are Ectalivar Castro and Argelia Gonzalez... Has two brothers, Carlos (28) and Javier (23)... Two-time recipient of the Michael Felsberg Spirit Award (2005, 2006)... Named to the Sun Belt Conference Academic Honor Roll the past three years and to the FIU Dean’s List in the fall of 2006 with the team’s highest GPA... Off the track, enjoys playing soccer, watching movies and can often be seen cheering fellow Golden Panthers on to victory... An engineering major.
