Daily Chronicle 2024 Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year: DeKalb’s Jacob Barraza

Tom Wuchte. Kelsey Schrader.

And now, Jacob Barraza.

The list of DeKalb runners that reached the IHSA State Cross Country Meet all four years of their high school career added its new member this season when Barraza qualified and medaled for the second straight year.

“That’s a select few of really, really, really good cross country runners and it’s really cool to be part of that list,” Barraza said. “It’s a lot of expectations and it’s really cool to be part of that list.”

Barraza medaled for the second straight year at the 3A championships, taking 15th in a personal best 14:28.4 - and that was after he won his first three postseason meets starting with the DuPage Valley Conference title.

He was named the Daily Chronicle Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year for the second straight year.

“I thought we did a lot of good,” Barraza said. “At the start of the season I was feeling pretty confident. ... Toward the end of the season things started picking up for me, won a lot of big races. Couldn’t finish it off like I wanted to but it was still really good.”

Barraza was 11th in the state last year and was hoping to build off that. And while he was four places lower than last year, he also ran the course 12 seconds faster than he did a year ago, ran it 26 seconds faster than he did in September, and set a personal best - which he had set the week before in the sectional round - by seven seconds.

Barraza said it’s a hard balancing acting knowing that he ran his best race but still fell short of where he wanted to finish, place-wise.

“You can never be mad at a PR but you still expect more for yourself,” Barraza said. “I trained really hard and I had a really good day. Just other people had better days. Fifteenth place in the state isn’t all that bad. It’s still pretty good. It’s a blessing.”

Barraza was going into state on a hot streak. He had won the DVC meet, Harlem Regional and Lake Park Sectional. And he won at Lake Park with a 14:35.6, a personal best by 21 seconds over the time he posted at the DVC meet.

“His confidence was really high going into the state meet,” DeKalb coach Mike Wolf said. “We talked about him running with those top guys, which he did. He tailed off a little bit toward the end of the race and lost a couple spots. But he still ran a fantastic race. He went through two miles faster than he ever did. Obviously his three-mile was very good. He was a little frustrated with the place but overall it was a really good race.”

Now Barraza is getting ready for the track and field season. He was third in the state last year in the 1,600. After that, he’s signed with Coastal Carolina to run track and cross country.

“My visit was awesome, the team was great the coach was great,” Barraza said. “They really trust me and really look forward to having me. And I mean being right on the beach like that, it’s like a 15-minute drive, you can’t really beat that.”

Barraza said he’s grateful for his four years at DeKalb.

“It was a really big blessing, all glory to God,” Barraza said. “I went to the state meet four years in a row so that was really cool. And I got to meet a lot of cool people, people I don’t think I’d be friends with unless I was running.”