SAN DIEGO — Hampden teen Garrett Allen became the second Maine Games powerlifter to win one of the National Congress of State Games highest awards as its 2010 Youth Athlete of the Year.
Allen, 14, will be honored along with 2010 Male and Female Athletes of the Year Stephen Peirce of Sherwood, Ore., and Iona Stookey of Huntley, Mont.
Allen, who will be a freshman at Hampden Academy this fall, has been a Maine Games State Powerlifting Championship mainstay the last four years. He earned gold medals and set Maine Games records each year. Last month, he was named the 2010 Maine Games/New Balance Youth Athlete of the Year. This is the first year of the youth award for the National Congress of State Games.
The last National Congress honoree from Maine was Chris Page of Hermon, who won the NCSG Male Athlete of the Year award in 2008.
Allen trains with Louis Morrison at Union Street Athletics in Bangor.