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O'Gorman's Libby Castelli taking distance talents to the University of North Carolina
Sioux Falls O'Gorman's Libby Castelli opened her senior cross-country season by winning the Nike Heartland Preview.
(Ryan Deal / 605 Sports)

O'Gorman's Libby Castelli taking distance talents to the University of North Carolina

Sep 18, 2024
  

By Rich Winter

605 Sports

SIOUX FALLS —- Sioux Falls O’Gorman’s Libby Castelli’s first love was not distance running. 

An avid soccer player since she was a little girl, Castelli only gave cross-country and distance running a try after moving from Chicago to Sioux Falls prior to her eighth-grade year. 

“I’ve been playing soccer my whole life,” Castelli said. “I really wanted to play soccer in college, but once I started running I decided that was more my sport.”

While soccer was her first love, running became her passion. Castelli won the 2023 Class AA state cross-country title and has four Class AA individual track titles. Castelli’s kind of talent doesn’t go unnoticed and she recently announced that she will be competing in both cross-country and track for the University of North Carolina.

“I thought I wanted to stay in the Midwest but I always kept in contact with North Carolina,” she said. “I made an official visit to Chapel Hill and I just loved the coaches. I loved the campus and basically everything and I really clicked with the girls already on the team.” 

Castelli opened her senior cross-country season at the Nike Heartland Preview on Sep. 14 with a win and a scintillating time of 17:18. Many wondered where Castelli was during the Augustana Twilight Meet on Sep. 7. 

Cross-country coach Aaron Strand explained that Castelli was busy pursuing her other sports passion, soccer, that weekend. 

“Libby is probably O’Gorman’s best soccer player and one of the best players in the state,” he said. “She had a match on Thursday and a match on Saturday and we just weren’t comfortable with her running, especially so early in the season.”

Running long distances is in the Castelli family as older sister Katie, who is now running at Ohio State, set the bar high finishing second in the Class AA cross-country meet in 2020. Libby Castelli was eighth in that race as an eighth-grader helping O’Gorman to the first of back-to-back team state titles. 

The list of premier distance runners at Sioux Falls O’Gorman is a long one and Libby Castelli had plenty of mentors along the way. 

“Along with her sister, we’ve had some great runners like Aleah Hardie and Ruth Pardy,” Strand said. “Libby was part of those championship runs in 2020 and 2021 along with two girls state track championships.”

Track fans will remember Castelli’s performance at the 2023 state track meet. On May 23, running the 1,600-meter medley relay, Castelli and Brandon Valley’s Mia Wentzy received the baton at the same time and Wentzy led the Lynx to the state title in a meet record time (4:02.68) with O’Gorman finishing second (4:03.57).

The next day Castelli won the 3,200-meter run (10:45) before coming back in the afternoon session to nip Wentzy in the 800-meter run (2:14.62) to claim her first 800-meter state title. 

“I was disappointed after the medley but knew I had some big days coming up,” Castelli said. “Mia beat me the year before in the 800-meter run and I wanted to win last year to get my first individual title in the 800-meter run.”

Castelli came back on Saturday to win the 1,600-meter run (4:56), her third state championship of the weekend. 

Sioux Falls O'Gorman's Libby Castelli, right, competes in the 1,600-meter run at last season's state track and field meet - Ryan Deal / 605 Sports)

As a dual-sport fall athlete Castelli has a delicate balance of making practices and staying sharp in both sports. She said she sometimes will do a run during the eighth period or with the team on a workout day and then practice with the soccer team at 5 p.m.

“Recovery is a big thing for me,” Castelli said. “After a hard race or after a soccer match if I need to take my runs slow I do that. Rest is also a big thing for me and if I need to cut back on my mileage I do that.” 

Castelli doesn’t lose often over 5,000-meters and on Friday she’ll be looking to avenge a 2023 loss to a Colorado runner at the Roy Griak Invitational in Minneapolis. 

“I got second last year and I think that same girl is coming back,” Castelli said. “There are girls from all over the country at that meet and it is always exciting to run against girls I normally don’t get to run against.” 

Soccer season will be over before the state cross-country meet on Oct. 26 in Rapid City.

“I’m pretty glad I got to play soccer for my senior year,” she said. “Once soccer ends I’ll be able to focus on just running and getting ready for some bigger post-state events.”

A year ago, Castelli qualified for the Nike cross-country national championships and Castelli said she will be looking to make a return trip to that event. 


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