Saluting Arturo Barrios

A distinguished distance runner, the various achievements accomplished by Texas A&M alum Arturo Barrios were passed along to another generation of Aggies when an A&M cross country meet was named in his honor in 2018.

While current members of the track and field team can see the Barrios name still listed multiple times among the school’s all-time lists in distance events, the opportunity to meet him and hear stories from his legendary world-record-setting career was a unique treat during the Barrios Invitational held in 2018.

“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 Texas A&M head coach Pat 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 naming the event after the top distance runner in Texas A&M history it enabled the current program to share his accomplishments with a younger generation of Aggies as Barrios visited with the team during his return to campus.

“It’s an honor to be back at Texas A&M,” Barrios said when he attended the meet. “It seems like it was yesterday when I was here, but I graduated in 1985. 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. 

“It feels good to be back on the campus, and the place is beautiful. I’ve taken a lot of pictures and have a lot of souvenirs.”

A member of the Texas A&M Athletic Hall of Fame, Barrios was a three-time Southwest Conference champion as an Aggie and set school records in the 3,000m steeplechase, 5,000 and 10,000 meters. In 1985 he was the silver medalist in the NCAA Championships at 10,000m. His time of 28:42.77 as runner-up in the 1985 Drake Relays 10,000m still stands as the A&M school record.

Barrios lettered at Texas A&M in 1984 and 1985 after transferring from Wharton County Junior College, where he won national titles in the 3,000m steeplechase and 5,000m in 1983. 

“Naming the meet after Arturo was very logical,” said Texas A&M assistant coach Wendel McRaven. “He’s the most accomplished distance runner in Texas A&M history and held three world records at one point. He also exemplifies some of the things we preach to kids in our program. 

“Here’s a guy who came from Mexico, is now a U.S. citizen, and worked his butt off in becoming an incredibly successful student and athlete. He’s got all the qualities you look for and is a great example. What a role model, here’s a guy who came here and took advantage of an opportunity to make himself even better.”

Barrios represented Mexico in the 1988 Olympic Games, placing fifth in the 10,000m, and set world records at distances of 10,000m and 20,000m along with the one-hour run. Barrios collected two gold medals at the Pan American Games, winning the 5,000m in Indianapolis (1987) and Havana, Cuba (1991).

During his magical 1989 season, Barrios broke the 10,000m world record by six seconds and established five Mexican national records from 1,500m to 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.”

After setting the 10,000m world record of 27:08.23 in 1989 it stood for four years. It remained the North American record until 2010 and is still the Mexican national record. 

World best performances in the 20,000m (56:55.6) and one-hour run (21.101 km) were set on the same day in 1991 and stood until 2007. Other Mexican national records established by Barrios, each set in 1989, included the 1,500m (3:37.61), 3,000m (7:35.71) and 5,000m (13:07.79).