Anna Connors of Bangor won three events at the Class A state meet. (Video above is of 100m final)
CHICAGO (June 30, 2022) - In its 37th year of honoring the nation's best high school athletes, Gatorade today
announced
Anna Connors of Bangor High School is the 2021-22 Gatorade Maine Girls Track & Field Player of
the Year. Connors is the first Gatorade Maine Girls Track & Field Player of the Year to be chosen from Bangor
High School.
The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic
achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field, distinguishes Connors as Maine's best
high school girls track & field athlete. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Girls Track & Field
Player of the Year award to be announced in July, Connors joins an elite alumni association of state award winners in 12 sports, including Lolo Jones (1997-98, Roosevelt High School, Iowa), Allyson Felix (2002-03, Los
Angeles Baptist High School, Calif.), Robert Griffin III (2006-07, Copperas Cove High School, Texas), Grant Fisher
(2014-15 & 2013-14, Grand Blanc High School, Mich.) and Candace Hill (2014-15, Rockdale County High School,
Ga.).
The 5-foot-6 junior swept all three sprint events at the Class A state meet this past season, leading the Rams to the
state championship as a team. Connors broke the tape in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.21 seconds, while
capturing the 200 in 25.10. She also won the 400 in 56.01
Connors has served as an elementary school mentor and has volunteered locally on behalf of a summer track
program for children. "In my 20-plus years of coaching high school athletics, Anna is one of the most driven
athletes I've seen," said Bangor High School coach Alan Mosca. "This year, she was nursing an injury to her
quadriceps that could have derailed her season, but she took it as a challenge. She overcame the injury, won three
individual events and helped lead her team to a state title."
Connors has maintained a weighted 4.56 GPA in the classroom. She will begin her senior year of high school this
fall.
The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of
the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls
basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field, and awards one National Player
of the Year in each sport. The selection process is administered by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection
Committee, which leverages experts including coaches, scouts, media and others as sources to help evaluate and
determine the state winners in each sport.
Connors joins recent Gatorade Maine Girls Track & Field Players of the Year
Victoria Bossong (2020-21, 2019-20, &
2018-19, Cheverus High School), and
Nyagoa Bayak (2017-18, Westbrook High School), among the state's list of
former award winners.