When Anna Connors won the 200-meter dash at the Boston University John Thomas Terrier Classic on Jan. 27 in 24.36 seconds — breaking the Maine indoor track and field state record — it should have been cause for celebration.
Instead, it became a moment of panic, as Connors suffered a high-ankle sprain at the finish line.
Still, less than a month later, Connors captured the 200-meter Class A state title in 25.85 seconds as she crushed her next closest competitor by more than a second. The Bangor senior, who has committed to the University of Connecticut in the fall to continue her track and field career, also took home a runner-up finish in the 400-meter dash (58.87) and a third-place finish in the 55-meter dash (7.38).
Over the course of her career with the Rams, Connors has won five outdoor and four indoor state titles, as well as a 2022 New Balance Nationals Indoor championship in the 400 in the Rising Stars division (55.62). She holds school records in the 55, 100, 200 and 400-meter sprints, and her efforts played a major role in helping Bangor win two outdoor and three indoor track Class A state titles.
Simply put, Connors is one of the best sprinters in Maine girls track and field history. Not only did Connors take home a state title this indoor season despite her ankle injury, she also won three individual state titles during last year’s Class A outdoor track state meet while competing with a quadriceps injury. If she manages to stay healthy in the coming months, Connors could be poised for her greatest season yet.
“Truthfully, I’ve been coaching a long time and her performance at outdoors and indoor states are two of the toughest and grittiest performances I’ve seen a kid do,” Bangor track and field coach Alan Mosca said. “A lot of kids would not compete, but that was never an option for her. She was going to go for it.”
Anna Connors’ work ethic is what sticks out to Mosca the most. Connors took up track in sixth grade after having previously played softball.
In her first outdoor track season as a middle-schooler, Connors, a sixth-grader, ran a personal best of 1:07.60 at the 2017 Almquist Invitational. The time was good enough for fourth place as three eighth-graders finished ahead of her.
“I wasn’t even fast in middle school, but it was fun so I kept with it,” Connors said. “It was the environment. I have the same friends that I had back then, and it’s so fun to be here with all these girls and the coaches, as well.”
Connors lost her freshman year of outdoor track due to COVID. In her sophomore year, she helped Bangor’s 4×400-meter relay team to a state title (4:07.06) alongside Megan Randall, Meaghan Caron and Alyssa Elliott. All three went on to compete in Division I athletics. Randall competes in track and field at Michigan State, Caron was a University of Maine field hockey player and Elliott is on the track team at UConn, where she will be joined by Connors next year.
In her ensuing indoor track season, Connors swept the 55-meter dash, 200 and 400 at the Class A state meet. She followed that with her biggest win yet at the New Balance Nationals Indoor championship race.
That next outdoor season Connors battled a quad injury near the end of the season. Mosca said she was “75 to 80 percent” for the state meet, but still swept the sprints.
Connors credits her training and coaches for her stellar times year after year. The star sprinter won the 2022 indoor 400 title by 3.64 seconds and even won a regular season 400-meter race by 7.02 seconds on May 14 at Hampden Academy last season.
For her, sprinting has been about holding her top speed for as long as she can while continuously working on her starts, which she hasn’t felt confident in.
“It’s definitely the coaching and the training I’ve put in,” Connors said. “I haven’t really thought about it before, but the work and distances they have me do works so well and they get me to that place where I don’t have to worry about if I am going to run fast, it just happens. It’s just a mental game at that point for how long I can hold onto my top speed.”
Heading into the BU Invitational meet, Connors said she was in the best shape she’d been in. She got there with a variety of sprint workouts, the weight room and playing on the wing in soccer for the Rams in the fall.
Connors has put on muscle in the weight room, Mosca said, and Connors credits sprints coach Garrett Johnson with helping her in practice. Connors said “broken fours,” an all-out 300-meter sprint before a 100-meter sprint five seconds later, have helped immensely, while playing has helped build endurance and agility.
Connors is excited for her final high school track season and the three individual titles she has to defend.
“I try not to, but it is a lot of fun to think about how far I’ve come over the past four years,” Connors said. “It’s really cool.”
The Maine state record in the outdoor 400 is held by Cheverus’ Victoria Bossong, who ran 53.81 at New Balance Nationals in 2019. The 200-meter record is held by Lake Region’s Kate Hall (23.69). Hall also owns the 100-meter record with a time of 11.58 that was not wind-aided. Hall’s 11.37 record at the 2015 New Balance Nationals meet was wind-aided by 3 mph.
Connors’ 100-meter personal record is 12.11, her 200-meter at 24.51 and her 400 PR coming in at 56.61. The Bangor senior is excited to join the UConn Huskies in the fall, but right now she’s focused on one last, hopefully healthy, outdoor season.
“We have such a good team this year that I’m looking for another state title,” Connors said. “I also want to work on my personal 100, 200 and 400s and getting those times down to where I had them or better.”
