Photo by: Texas A&M Athletics
Aggie Legend Arturo Barrios Honored as Namesake of Invitational
Oct 22, 2018 | Cross Country, Track and Field
Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry had an opportunity to introduce an Aggie legend to a younger generation of athletes this past weekend when Arturo Barrios arrived for the cross country meet named in his honor and held on the Dale Watts course.
While current members of the track and field team are able to see the Barrios name still listed multiple times among the school's all-time lists in distance events, getting to meet him and hear stories from his world-record setting career was a unique treat.
"Once our athletes see a guy who is an Aggie and was a world record holder, I think it's a motivator for our team," stated Henry. "It was fun for our team to have Arturo around. He is a class act and it was good to have him in town."
In deciding to host an October meet the same weekend a majority of the nationally-ranked programs race in pre-nationals at the host site of the NCAA Championships, the idea was to have teams from across the country experience the Watts course in an inter-regional competition.
Naming the event after the top distance runner in Texas A&M history enabled the current program to honor the accomplishments of Barrios.
"It's an honor to be back at Texas A&M," Barrios said. "It seems like it was yesterday when I was here, but I graduated in 1985, some 33 years ago. It's an honor to have a race named after me, I wasn't expecting that. When they told me, I could not believe it.
"I know they will have this race going for many years, and I would love to be back every single year to watch the race and the kids run. At one point I was one of them, I was so young and time flies. It's always a great feeling to be back at Texas A&M."
Next year will mark the 30th anniversary of the magical 1989 season when Barrios broke the 10,000m world record by six seconds and established five Mexican national records from 1,500m to 10,000m, four of which still stand. Thirty years ago in 1988, Barrios placed fifth in the Olympic Games 10,000m.
"Obviously, 1989 is a year I'll never forget and it's part of history," noted Barrios, who now enjoys fishing, hiking and camping while spending time with his family. "Thinking back, 1989 was something that changed my life and kind of made me who I am as a runner and person. To think about what happened back in 1989 is just a great memory.
"Now I have stories that I can tell my children and they can pass along to their children. Even when I'm not here, that will be part of history."
As a young distance runner when Barrios set world records in the late 80s and early 90s, Texas A&M assistant coach Wendel McRaven relished the opportunity to meet Barrios.
"It's always special to bring somebody back to campus, and in his case, he was the best distance runner in the history of the program as far as what he accomplished both at Texas A&M and beyond his time here," stated McRaven. "Most Aggies when they come back are really excited to be back. Based on my interactions with him, he was thrilled to be here and it brought back a lot of memories. He was also honored to have the meet named after him.
"It's also good for our kids in this generation of student-athletes, who didn't grow up watching his success or reading about him other than while at Texas A&M having seen his name on the all-time lists and his picture on the wall, to meet this person and hear him share some of his stories to inspire them hopefully to future success as well."
Texas A&M assistant coach Juan De La Garza, who threw the javelin for the Aggies, was a teammate and roommate with Barrios back in the mid-80s.
"First of all Arturo was shocked by the size of the university and the amount of money they have spent on athletics," noted De La Garza. "He was impressed with the number of dorms, apartments and condos that have been built and the overall growth of College Station.
"We helped push each other in training when we were teammates. He reminded me of the days when we had nothing, but we still made it work."
In addition to a dedicated cross country course and the Gilliam Indoor stadium, a new outdoor complex is close to opening its doors for the 2019 outdoor season.
"Having a dedicated cross country course is more like the European style," said Barrios. "With an indoor track and a new outdoor track, now I know why Texas A&M is doing great, because one thing you have to have is the facilities.
"Now Texas A&M is a powerhouse. They have everything you need when it comes to sprinters, middle distance, distance, jumpers and throwers. It's really great to see Texas A&M improving for the better. When I was here, everything was different and the changes are unbelievable, 100 percent better."
In addition to having Barrios on campus for the Invitational named after him, the field of teams competing created a successful meet and drew the attention of other programs.
"I received a lot of phones calls and text messages the day after our meet from teams that weren't here asking about some of the teams who ran well in our meet," noted McRaven. "They wanted to know how the course ran, et cetera, et cetera. So, people were definitely paying attention.
"We had 28 teams here, and we could have easily handled another 12 to 15 teams on the course and been fine. The goal has always been to have big national inter-regional competition. Hopefully, this is the first of many. My plan is to follow up with the coaches who were here as the cross country season winds down as well as when we meet at our December national convention to secure teams that will come back next season and spread the word to other teams."
Henry added: "It was a good-sized field and our course can handle a large number of teams. The teams that competed here, I think, all enjoyed the experience. That's what we have to do to spread the word about the quality of our course and get other people knowing about this facility.
"It's great that the NCAA committee comes down to look at it, but once teams and athletes know the course then you have a better shot of being able to host a national meet than you would with just the NCAA committee seeing the course."
While current members of the track and field team are able to see the Barrios name still listed multiple times among the school's all-time lists in distance events, getting to meet him and hear stories from his world-record setting career was a unique treat.
"Once our athletes see a guy who is an Aggie and was a world record holder, I think it's a motivator for our team," stated Henry. "It was fun for our team to have Arturo around. He is a class act and it was good to have him in town."
In deciding to host an October meet the same weekend a majority of the nationally-ranked programs race in pre-nationals at the host site of the NCAA Championships, the idea was to have teams from across the country experience the Watts course in an inter-regional competition.
Naming the event after the top distance runner in Texas A&M history enabled the current program to honor the accomplishments of Barrios.
"It's an honor to be back at Texas A&M," Barrios said. "It seems like it was yesterday when I was here, but I graduated in 1985, some 33 years ago. It's an honor to have a race named after me, I wasn't expecting that. When they told me, I could not believe it.
"I know they will have this race going for many years, and I would love to be back every single year to watch the race and the kids run. At one point I was one of them, I was so young and time flies. It's always a great feeling to be back at Texas A&M."
Next year will mark the 30th anniversary of the magical 1989 season when Barrios broke the 10,000m world record by six seconds and established five Mexican national records from 1,500m to 10,000m, four of which still stand. Thirty years ago in 1988, Barrios placed fifth in the Olympic Games 10,000m.
"Obviously, 1989 is a year I'll never forget and it's part of history," noted Barrios, who now enjoys fishing, hiking and camping while spending time with his family. "Thinking back, 1989 was something that changed my life and kind of made me who I am as a runner and person. To think about what happened back in 1989 is just a great memory.
"Now I have stories that I can tell my children and they can pass along to their children. Even when I'm not here, that will be part of history."
As a young distance runner when Barrios set world records in the late 80s and early 90s, Texas A&M assistant coach Wendel McRaven relished the opportunity to meet Barrios.
"It's always special to bring somebody back to campus, and in his case, he was the best distance runner in the history of the program as far as what he accomplished both at Texas A&M and beyond his time here," stated McRaven. "Most Aggies when they come back are really excited to be back. Based on my interactions with him, he was thrilled to be here and it brought back a lot of memories. He was also honored to have the meet named after him.
"It's also good for our kids in this generation of student-athletes, who didn't grow up watching his success or reading about him other than while at Texas A&M having seen his name on the all-time lists and his picture on the wall, to meet this person and hear him share some of his stories to inspire them hopefully to future success as well."
Texas A&M assistant coach Juan De La Garza, who threw the javelin for the Aggies, was a teammate and roommate with Barrios back in the mid-80s.
"First of all Arturo was shocked by the size of the university and the amount of money they have spent on athletics," noted De La Garza. "He was impressed with the number of dorms, apartments and condos that have been built and the overall growth of College Station.
"We helped push each other in training when we were teammates. He reminded me of the days when we had nothing, but we still made it work."
In addition to a dedicated cross country course and the Gilliam Indoor stadium, a new outdoor complex is close to opening its doors for the 2019 outdoor season.
"Having a dedicated cross country course is more like the European style," said Barrios. "With an indoor track and a new outdoor track, now I know why Texas A&M is doing great, because one thing you have to have is the facilities.
"Now Texas A&M is a powerhouse. They have everything you need when it comes to sprinters, middle distance, distance, jumpers and throwers. It's really great to see Texas A&M improving for the better. When I was here, everything was different and the changes are unbelievable, 100 percent better."
In addition to having Barrios on campus for the Invitational named after him, the field of teams competing created a successful meet and drew the attention of other programs.
"I received a lot of phones calls and text messages the day after our meet from teams that weren't here asking about some of the teams who ran well in our meet," noted McRaven. "They wanted to know how the course ran, et cetera, et cetera. So, people were definitely paying attention.
"We had 28 teams here, and we could have easily handled another 12 to 15 teams on the course and been fine. The goal has always been to have big national inter-regional competition. Hopefully, this is the first of many. My plan is to follow up with the coaches who were here as the cross country season winds down as well as when we meet at our December national convention to secure teams that will come back next season and spread the word to other teams."
Henry added: "It was a good-sized field and our course can handle a large number of teams. The teams that competed here, I think, all enjoyed the experience. That's what we have to do to spread the word about the quality of our course and get other people knowing about this facility.
"It's great that the NCAA committee comes down to look at it, but once teams and athletes know the course then you have a better shot of being able to host a national meet than you would with just the NCAA committee seeing the course."
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