Hall of Fame Class: Skye Green

Skye Green is an All-American, Big West champion, school record holder and now Hall of Fame member.

Green’s accolades were hard-earned, coming as a result of her drive, passion and work ethic. She wasn’t born into an athletic family as she did piano and ballet while growing up in Sierra Madre, California. It wasn’t until middle school when she had to run a mile for P.E. class that she discovered a natural ability to run for distance, so when she got to Pasadena High School, she decided to join the Bulldogs’ cross country/track team. 

Green stuck with the long distance events, competing in the mile and 2-mile, along with the 3-mile for cross country. During her junior year, she decided she wanted to mix it up a little and try the hurdles. It took some convincing with her coaches, but eventually they gave in and sure enough, she won the race. From there, she finished out her prep career as both a distance runner and hurdler.

Although Green was beating people in her races, she wasn’t recruited out of high school and didn’t plan to continue track & field in college. She ended up choosing UC Irvine for the academics, but once she got to campus, she couldn’t stop thinking about running. Late in the fall quarter, she made her way into head coach Vince O’Boyle’s office to see if she could try out for the team. She considered herself a distance runner, and although her times weren’t the greatest in high school, O’Boyle gave her a shot.

“There was something about her that to this day, and I’ve thought about it many times over, that I can’t quite put my finger on it,” O’Boyle said. “There was just something about the way she ran, and Pam Kurtela, a sprinter and team captain at the time, saw it too. She told me that Skye was someone who could be really good in time.”

“I wasn’t very fast and couldn’t keep up with anyone,” Green added. “I wouldn’t say I had the credentials to be there, but it was Vince who gave me the opportunity. Making the team was something I really wanted, so I worked really hard and did everything they told me to do.”

Another thing Green did was switch event groups. While her initial plan was to join a pretty stacked UCI distance squad, Green noticed the Anteaters only had a couple hurdlers at the time and realized her chances of making the team might be better in that event. So, one day she went into O’Boyle’s office, and just like she did in high school, surprised people when she said she wanted to run the hurdles.

“I had looked at her to possibly be an 800m runner but when she came in and said she wanted to try the hurdles, everybody, including the captains, looked at me and said why not,” O’Boyle recalled. “So, we gave it a try and started putting her in the hurdles.”

O’Boyle mentioned it was a little bit of trial and error, but it didn’t take long for them to see it was the right move for Green.

MAKING A NAME FOR HERSELF
Green utilized a redshirt season to develop in the intermediate hurdles her first year. She made significant strides during that time to cement her spot on the roster in 1994. She continued to work extremely hard and did well enough in her first year of competition to earn a scholarship for her final three seasons. Green, who was a Big West finalist and made her way into UCI’s all-time top-10 in the 400H as a freshman, continued to see steady progress as she would find ways to improve every year. 

“I always tried to figure out how I could get better for the next year,” Green said. “I would add plyometric drills or weightlifting, and I would work really hard in the summer when everyone else was kind of taking a break so that I could get faster.”

One of the turning points in her career came toward the end of her sophomore season. At the 1995 Big West Championships, Green was in second in the 400m hurdles until getting passed by two people right at the end, missing out on the medal stand by .02 seconds. 

“I finished fourth in the conference, and it was heartbreaking for me,” Green said. “It was a really close finish. The summer after that year I made a big improvement because that experience motivated me to do all the extra things I needed to do to get faster.”

The work she put in during the offseason paid dividends in 1996. Green not only made her way onto the medal stand in both the 100H (3rd) and 400H (2nd) at the conference meet, but she also qualified for the NCAA Championships in the latter event and broke two school records. It was an eye-opening experience for Green, who ended up placing 17th in the nation.

“My first NCAA Championship was at the University of Oregon,” Green said. “Everyone was telling me you’re going to Track Town, the greatest place on earth to run track. And when I went, the stands were packed, every day the daily newspaper had articles, so that was an amazing experience to be in a place where everyone loves track so much and was so knowledgeable about the sport. I didn’t run anything great that year, but it definitely made me hungry to make the finals the next year.”

One thing Green noticed when competing against the best in the country was that they had more raw speed. So, this time during the offseason, her main focus was on her speed, and the time and effort she put in led to the best season of her career. In 1997, Green improved her school records in the 100H (14.04) and 400H (57.11). She also made her way back onto the podium at the conference championships, winning UCI’s first Big West title in the 400H in 13 years.

Green went on to accomplish the goal she set for herself after her junior campaign as she reached the 400m hurdle final at the NCAA Championships in Bloomington, Indiana. She placed ninth overall to cap a decorated career with All-America honors.  

In addition to her athletic accolades, Green was named a 1997 NCAA Woman of the Year nominee, earned UCI Lauds and Laurels distinction, and received both the NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship and the Association of Sports Broadcasters Award and Post-Graduate Scholarship. She graduated from UC Irvine as a double major in English and environmental engineering. 

Green, who had qualified for the 1996 U.S. Olympic Trials and the 1997 U.S. Track & Field Championships while still in college, continued to compete both domestically and internationally after graduation. She made three more appearances at the U.S. Championships (1998, 1999, 2001), while also racing in Europe in 2000. She eventually retired from competition following the birth of her second daughter in 2006.

During that time, Green also finished graduate school at UCLA and began working as an engineer. In 2006, she started her own environmental engineering firm.

IT’S A FAMILY AFFAIR
Green met her husband, Roderick Castillo, in high school when they were both 17 years old. The couple went to UC Irvine together, got married the summer before their senior year and were named captains of the track & field team in 1997. Castillo, who played lacrosse his first two years, joined Green as a member of the hurdle squad in 1995. In 1996, her younger sister, Brooke, also made her way to campus as a freshman hurdler.

“It was such a great experience that I got to share with my sister and my husband,” Green said. “We have all those same shared memories and experiences that have lasted us our whole lifetime. Even now, we have the same track friends so that was definitely an added bonus.”

Now, Green and Castillo’s oldest daughter, Makena, is continuing the legacy as a member of the UC Irvine cross country and track & field team. 

“It’s really fun for us to come and cheer for her and put all our old gear on with a purpose,” Green said. “It was such a positive experience for me so I’m glad she gets to have those same experiences and memories that I really appreciated and enjoyed.”

Green and her family will have another reason to come back to campus and make more memories next weekend when she is inducted into the UCI Athletics Hall of Fame in a ceremony on Jan. 28.

“It’s an honor to be inducted,” Green said. “The first year after I graduated, they asked me to come back and give a speech at the Hall of Fame banquet when Buffy Rabbit was getting inducted. I got to be there and be part of that history back then so just to know all the other people who have been inducted and know how great they all are, it’s a special honor.”