BY KYLE BRENNAN
CITIZEN’S NEWS
BEACON FALLS — Not enough people understand Alex Farr’s love for running.
“I get people telling me I’m crazy all the time,” said Farr, a recent Woodland graduate and the male recipient of the Hawks’ 2023 CIAC Scholar-Athlete of the Year award.
The longtime soccer player turned track star said he didn’t discover that love until his junior year, born from freedom and passion and spurred further by undeniable success.
“It’s mostly relaxing for me, and the joy was just being able to go out and run wherever and whenever I wanted,” Farr said. “It almost just felt like natural for me to be out on the track, and I think as I started to really love the sport, the success just came with the hard work.”
Farr earned All-Naugatuck Valley League honors for the first time as a junior during indoor track thanks to a pair of gold medals in relays. He duplicated those All-NVL honors in his four remaining seasons as a Hawk: twice in outdoor track, once in soccer, and one more time in indoor track.
At the end of his junior outdoor track season, he broke Woodland’s 800-meter record for the first time. That moment paved the way for a senior year filled with records and honors, he said, because “it only made me want to work harder.”
At the same time, though, Farr had to match his effort on the track with effort in the classroom. His schedule during his last two years at Woodland was filled with Early College Experience courses to allow him to earn college credits.
“A typical day for me would be waking up around 5 or 6 a.m. so I could get a run in before school,” Farr said. “After school, I would always have practice, whether it be soccer or track. After that, [the goal] would just be to complete all my assignments and get rest for the next day.”
All the work paid off. He started his senior year by earning All-State honors in soccer and followed it up by winning Class S state championships in the sprint medley relay and the 600 meters. He broke school records in both events and set an NVL record in the 600 before earning all-league honors one more time during the outdoor track season.
When Woodland athletic director Chris Dailey told Farr that he was one of the school’s two CIAC Scholar-Athletes of the Year, he said he felt pride not just in his athletic accomplishments but of the discipline it took to excel in sports and academics.
“It was definitely a great feeling,” Farr said. “I think that a lot of people don’t realize how hard it is to be a student-athlete and find the right balance between academics and sports.”
Farr will run at the University of Tampa, which he said “felt like home” during his visit to the school. Now finished with his career at Woodland, he says that upcoming student-athletes should prioritize academics first if they really want to excel as an athlete.
“Work hard in the classroom before worrying about sports,” Farr said. “Colleges look at both academics and athletics equally, and if you keep up with your schoolwork, then it will give you more time to work harder in sports. Along with that, set goals for yourself and don’t stop until you reach them.”
