New London — After the day he had Saturday at the Eastern Connecticut Conference Large Division indoor track meet, three events, three victories, Norwich Free Academy's Connor Gralton could have gloated. Just a little.

Instead, he spent part of the time talking about his rival, East Lyme's Vann Moffett. Moffett won the overall battle between the two during cross country season when he finished ahead of Gralton at the State Open championship at Wickham Park, earning a trip to the New England meet while Gralton found himself at home.

Gralton edged Moffett twice in Saturday's meet. He beat Moffett in the 1,000 meters (2 minutes, 37.59 seconds-2:38.49) and the 1,600 (4:38.79-4:39.53) before Moffett won the 3,200 (10:23.54) and Gralton decided to have a little fun with his third event, joining the 4x360 relay and winning with teammates Logan Rourke, Nick Fitch and Josh Achille.

"He's a great runner," Gralton said of Moffett, a fellow senior. "I've seen him go from the middle of the pack as a sophomore to where he is now. How hard he works, you can't not respect that. And he's a ridiculously nice kid."

Gralton, a prospective Division I runner and political science major who has made official visits at the University of Rhode Island, Central Connecticut State and the University of New Hampshire, won the ECC cross country championship in the fall. Moffett was second.

Moffett, however, used that as a springboard to win the Class MM state cross country championship (Gralton was 16th in Class LL) and he finished 11th in the State Open. Gralton collapsed at the State Open and did not finish, something he called "a mental pass-out."

"Honestly, we don't know what happened," Gralton said of that day. "It was a lot of stress I put on myself, it was a hot, warm day, all that kind of stuff. Before I started, I just wanted to give 100 percent; I gave 100 percent maybe 100 meters too early."

Gralton said he felt that indoor track would be different.

"Indoor track is personal competition, you vs. yourself," Gralton said. "I always loved indoors. ... I'm pleased so far. I love having a kick at the end. That's the most fun."

Gralton, who placed in the top five in the 1,000 and and the 1,600 in last year's Class LL state meet, will next compete in the LL meet Thursday at the Floyd Little Athletic Center in New Haven. Moffett, who is looking at Division I programs UConn and Stony Brook among his college choices, will run in the Class M meet Saturday.

"We both fought hard. He just was better today," said Moffett, who helped lift East Lyme to its second straight ECC Large Division team title Saturday at the Coast Guard Academy. "(Gralton) definitely has a lot more experience than me. He's been there all four years. I've always looked up to him.

"We both put it all out there. I definitely respect him."

"It's fantastic to have that," East Lyme coach Steve Hargis said of the rivalry between the two runners. "The individual subplots ... that's great."

His turn

Fitch senior Patrick Scheurer has run behind two pretty good hurdlers in his career.

One was teammate Tyler Latham, who was the Connecticut decathlon champion and Gatorade Connecticut Boys' Track & Field Athlete of the Year the spring of his senior year. Latham was the 2014 55 hurdle champion in the ECC Large, while last year's champ was East Lyme star Greg Atkinson (Scheurer was third).

On Saturday, Scheurer added his name to the list of some really talented guys, winning the hurdle event in 8.23 seconds for his first individual ECC title in indoor or outdoor track.

"It was a really cool thing," Scheurer said. "It was something I wanted for a few years. And it was a huge PR for me."

Selling point

East Lyme girls' coach Carl Reichard, whose team won its third title in a row, was proud that although the Vikings had several athletes not do as well as they were expected earlier in the meet, they came back strong.

Said Reichard: "We talk to them about the importance of giving your best effort all the time. One of the great things about track is you might finish in fifth place as a team, but if everyone performed well, you did the best you could, you can still be happy. Nobody sits on the bench. Everybody can have a great day.

"That's how we sell it."

State meet schedule

Following is the schedule for this week's state meets (all at the Floyd Little Athletic Center):

Thursday, Class LL (NFA), 4 p.m.

Friday, Class S (Grasso Tech, Old Lyme, St. Bernard, Wheeler, Montville boys), 4 p.m.

Saturday, Class L (Fitch, East Lyme girls), 10 a.m., Class M (Ledyard, New London, Stonington, Waterford, East Lyme boys, Montville girls), 4:30 p.m.

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