by By Dan Ninham
North Pole High School is located 14 miles south of Fairbanks, Alaska. There are about 640 students, 50 certified teachers, and 30 classified personnel at the high school. The mission of the high school is to empower students to become lifelong learners and active citizens in an increasingly global society. The global society includes a family from the Acoma Pueblo in New Mexico.
Lia and Madeline Castill are Acoma Pueblo and members of the Yellow Corn Clan. They come from a strong lineage of great runners trailing back several hundred years.
“My native name is ‘Aishiti’ and means the paint that is collected from Pueblo Acoma. I am fifteen years old, and I am a sophomore at the North Pole HS in Alaska.” said Lia
“I am ‘Aastiya’ meaning it’s a purple flower that only blooms in July and only in Acoma,” said Madeline. “I am 14 years old, and I am in the ninth grade at North Pole HS.”
“My sports are cross-country, track and basketball,” said Lia. “In my high school career, I have made it to state for cross country and have gotten first place in a couple races. I have also received an all-tourney award for basketball in my freshman year. There was no track season this year, but in middle school track and field I had gotten first place for every race seventh through eighth grade.”
“I do track and cross country,” said Madeline. “I went undefeated in middle school and I got top 10 in ninth place in the first race of the season for cross country.”
“I grew up in the military and always moved around,” said Lia. “I was unable to stay and live in Pueblo Acoma, but I am still proud of where I come from.”
“Not growing up on the reservation limited me to a lot of things I could’ve been or done,” said Madeline. “Being a military kid I traveled around the world and saw many amazing sites and historical monuments. I am still proud of where I came from and I want to be able to portray those traits in my everyday life.”
“As a student-athlete I was influenced by my father,” said Lia. “He had influenced me, because he also knows what it was like to be a student-athlete, and he was a good student-athlete. He works hard to coach us, and helps my sister and I with training and handling being a student-athlete.”
“Our dad has influenced me by always pushing me to my limits,” said Madeline. “He even shows me I can do more and he showed me what a good student-athlete looks like. My sister was a big part of my life and running career, she’s always made me a better person and I would not be where I am today without her.”
Dad Phil Castillo is an Alaska Native Education Tutor at the North Pole High School. He is also the head boys’ and girls’ cross country coach. In addition, Phil was a national champion college cross country runner at Adams State College in Alamosa, Colorado.
“From a coaching perspective both Lia and Madeline are on a fantastic glide path in terms of their progression,” said Phil. “This past summer we bumped up their mileage by running five days a week, something they had never done before. Every morning at 8 am rain or shine, we would get out there and run anywhere from 30-40 minutes of continuous running. It wasn’t a super fast effort, but what I was looking for was consistency and adaptation with their efforts. And every morning, their mother would make them a smoothie. I think they looked forward more to the smoothie than the actual run.”
“For Madeline coming from middle school it was important to bring her along slowly,” said Phil. “There are a lot of girls out there that feel they have to pound out the high mileage in order to catch up to the upperclassmen in high school. Not the case for Madeline, as we just took a very easy approach to the increase in mileage. It also helped immensely to have her big sister out there to run with. Not only did Lia provide that companionship, but she also provided that kind of mentorship of knowing what it’s like to run at the high school level. Now Lia is certainly not an expert only entering her sophomore year in school, but she did make it to state as a ninth grader and gained valuable experience her freshman season. Madeline drew energy from that and wants the same thing this season.”
“The first meet was cancelled on August 15th due to COVID concerns,” said Phil. “We were able to run in the second meet on a very hilly mountainous course in Fairbanks. Lia finished 2nd overall in 20:57 and Madeline finished in 9th overall in 22:08. Lia ran 22:16 on this same course a year ago as a ninth grader, so the improvement is exactly what we are looking for. Madeline ran this course for the first time, so her goal for next year will certainly be to also run in the 20-minute range. It would be real easy to get caught up in a competition between the two, but I’m more interested in them supporting each other’s accomplishments without the sisterly competition.”
“I remember walking around the course after the girls varsity race and a coach from our district came up to me and said to me, ‘Coach you have another Castillo girl on your team?’ I emphatically replied, ‘yes I do.’ We beat that team for the first time in a very long time as they have always gone to state ahead of North Pole. North Pole has never been to state as a team, but that could change this season with strong running by Lia and Madeline at Regionals on September 26th,” added Phil.
“Lia and Madeline are trailblazers and both are helping me to change the culture of running at North Pole High School,” said Phil. “Do they have the ability to run at the next level in college? 100% yes, because they possess a work ethic that not many kids their age are willing to accept. They both come from a strong lineage of runners in our family dating back hundred of years at Acoma Pueblo, NM. They draw energy from that and understand running is prayer for us.”
“Coaching Madeline and Lia is an absolute privilege,” said Phil. “It’s important to understand that I don’t live through them or expect them to do what I did as a runner. They have to make their own way in their respective running careers. It nice to have the front seat however, in watching them improve and turn heads on the running scene.”
“Before the season starts there is a lot of training,” said Lia. “During summer I do a lot of running and strength training. To recover, I relax, stretch, and take ice baths to heal my legs. Being able to relax, and to think of other things beside the season helps me recover mentally and emotionally as well.”
“I prepare myself by eating the right foods all week,” said Madeline. “I take ice baths for 10 minutes at the most, I tell myself everyday that I have to work hard to get a good outcome, I can’t let anything or anyone get to me mentally because people can break you down, and I pray everyday for what God has given me in life and how he portrayed it in me.”
“If you ever think about wanting to do a sport in life you just know that it takes a lot of hard work and determination and you just have to stay positive,” said Lia.
“You need to learn to love the people around you because your team is your family,” said Madeline.
Photo Credit: Phil and Wendy Castillo
Good job girls, guhmee & to Phil, ha’trsai’m’ee.
Dan,
You always do a fantastic job of capturing the essence of our native athletes on a very personal level. Thank you for your professionalism and outstanding stories, and Thank you Phyllis for your encouraging words. Although we’ve been in the military for over 20 yrs, the girls know where they come from and are so proud of their heritage.