Maine’s high school track and field annals include only a handful of athletes who won an event and finished second in another at a single New England Championship meet. The most decorated athlete went on to win two NCAA titles and a U.S. long jump title.

Now, the second-most decorated Maine track athlete at a New England meet is Gorham High senior Andrew Farr.

On June 11, Farr won the 200 meters at the New England Championships in 21.95 seconds, and placed second in both the 100 (11.00) and the 400 (48.27). The collection of medals was an exclamation point on a season in which Farr swept all three sprint events at the Class A state meet, winning the 100 (11.03), the 200 (22.41), and the 400 (49.06).

Farr is our selection as the Varsity Maine boys’ outdoor track and field Athlete of the Year for his range as a sprinter and his capacity to excel in a single meet in multiple events. His performance at the New England meet is rivaled in the past 20 years only by the national high school long jump record holder, Kate Hall of Lake Region High. She won the 100 and long jump and took second in the 200 at the 2015 outdoor New England track and field meet.

Farr, who was the runner-up in the 300 at the New England indoor meet this winter, said the capstone performance to his high school career surprised him.

“I went into New Englands wanting to place in all three events, though that was ambitious,” said Farr, who will compete for Yale University next year. “And the event I least thought I could win was the 200. When I ran the 100 and 400 and got second I thought, ‘It’s a good day.’ In the 200, I ended up running a (personal best) and winning, which is something I didn’t think I was capable of. And my start was absolutely terrible.”

At 5-foot-9, 140 pounds, Farr said his size typically allows him to get out faster from the blocks than the taller runners and helps him get to his top-end speed quicker. That didn’t happen at the New England meet.

Rather than using a gun for the start as race officials typically do, they used a different device that made a noise. It was difficult to hear it, Farr said, and he was left behind at the start of the 200 meters while the other runners exploded.

“I hesitated massively and everyone was a full step ahead of me before I moved,” Farr said. “I thought, ‘Now I’ve got some ground to make up.’ ”

Still he dropped his personal best from 22.05 to 21.95 seconds. In the 400 at the New England meet, he dropped his personal best from 49.06 to 48.27 seconds.

After battling injuries as a freshman and missing out on the outdoor season of his sophomore year and the indoor season of his junior year because of the coronavirus pandemic, Farr is satisfied with his high school career and looking to improving further in NCAA Division I track.

“When I got injured my freshman year, it’s so easy to think of the negative,” Farr reflected. “But being injured, I learned how to take care of myself, how to prevent injuries. I didn’t know if I’d ever come back. In a way, (the pandemic) gave my hamstring the full rest it needed that I don’t think it otherwise would have gotten. It was a blessing in disguise.”

Jason Tanguay, the Gorham boys’ coach, was pleased that Farr ran his senior year free of injuries.

“In hindsight, when you look back at how it unfolded for him, he had success this season because of what he had to become resilient over the last year-and-a-half,” Tanguay said. “Andrew might have hoped he could be a New England champion, but I’m not sure he would have thought he could also be runner-up in two events.

“One of the things that most impresses me about him is how humble he is, and how positive. It’s been a pleasure to watch this young man keep that part of his character.”

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