On its toughest days, track and field might seem repetitive.

Now imagine hitting a plateau in your best event and going weeks, then months, without breaking through it.

Edward Little High School sophomore Connor Harris confronted that combined physical and mental barrier when he was stuck at six feet, two inches in the high jump for most of the outdoor season.

“If you’re at five feet, then it’s not hard to improve by an inch or two,” Harris said. “Once you get to 6-foot-1 or even six feet, it doesn’t happen.”

But on May 12 — a day that otherwise harbored the end of Edward Little’s titanic boys’ and girls’ regular-season winning streaks — Harris achieved that inch and felt like he’d soared a mile.

“Even though it was only one inch and it doesn‘t seem like a lot, it took a lot of work and it was a big deal for me,” Harris said. “In a lot of the big meets, by the time I do the high jump, I’ve already done long jump and triple jump. So by the time I get to high jump, my legs are toast. I felt great that day.”

That personal accomplishment was the bow and the wrapping paper on a spring full of huge victories for Harris.

He swept the high, triple and long jumps at the KVAC championships.

At Class A states a week later, Harris won the high jump (alas, only jumping 6-2). He also finished second in the triple jump, actually matching the distance of champion Tyson Goodale of Bonny Eagle. And he was fourth in long jump, only 2 ¼ inches behind winner Alex Shain of Sanford.

For all that — speaking of repetition — Harris completed a clean sweep of this year’s Sun Journal all-region boys’ track and field honors. He has earned the outdoor laurels to match his previous indoor recognition.

Harris prevailed in a razor-close battle with Jack Peters of Class B Gray-New Gloucester and Morgan Reeves of Class C Lisbon, both of whom were champions and multi-event scorers at their respective state meets.

“I was definitely surprised that I got 6-3 this year. I was so excited about that,” Harris said. “Everything else for the year as far my other jumps met my standards and my expectations.”

In his showcase event, Harris noted that Edward Little’s top-flight facility and the freedom to focus exclusively on high jump every other day are advantages.

He also benefited from the expertise of longtime EL coach Dan Campbell, now an assistant to boys’ track coach Ryan LaRoche.

“Campbell really helped me out with a few things,” Harris said. “He gave me a lot of pointers about my run-up, my approach, my flight, all that stuff.”

Like many of the athletes in EL’s strong program, Harris gravitated to the sport after teachers saw him in the school hallway and speculated about his potential.

Auburn Middle School teachers Nicole Melcher and Claudette Shales convinced Harris to try the sport in seventh grade, he said.

Once hooked, Harris competed in both school and summer track in junior high and never looked back.

“The thing I like about it is that there are so many things you can do,” Harris said. “Once you achieve your goal in one thing, you can try a bunch of different events. For one of our regular-season meets, I convinced my coach to let me try discus. I didn’t do that great, but it was fun just to try it.”

Harris may have a future in sprints, as well, although this spring‘s rainy weather and disjointed practice and meet schedule put those possibilities on hold.

Learning on the fly was Harris’ goal in his first-ever trip to the New England track and field championship in Burlington, Vt., as well.

“It was different. I wasn’t much competition for them,” he said. “But it’s good to watch people who are above you, to see what you could do better.”

The thought of getting Harris getting any better in this game of inches is likely to frighten his competition for two more years.

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Boys’ Track and Field

Ben Bailey, Monmouth

Bryan Blackman, Dirigo

Joey Brennan, Winthrop

Josh Christy, Poland

Kevin Desmond, Monmouth

Darnell Hairston, Edward Little

Aaron Halls, Lisbon

Connor Harris, Edward Little

Ali Hersi, Lewiston

Josef Holt-Andrews, Telstar

Ethan Hutchins, Livermore Falls

Travis Hutchins, Winthrop

Jacob Freeman, Livermore Falls

Patrick LaChance, St. Dom’s

Keith Lemelin, Leavitt

Michael Lucas, Edward Little

Hussein Mohamed, Edward Little

Faisal Noor, Edward Little

Jack Peters, Gray-NG

Taka Ranucci, Edward Little

Morgan Reeves, Lisbon

Will Shafer, Gray-NG

Kyle Sheehan, Lisbon

Kameron Souza, Winthrop

Keith Tremblay, Edward Little

Alwayne Uter, Livermore Falls

Tony Whalen, Poland

Cam Woodford, Poland