New Britain — The other sport in which Noah Hysong competes, fencing, takes a lot of mental strength.

“This year put my mental game to the test,” Hysong, a Ledyard High School senior, said of fencing. “It made me 10 times stronger. People refer to it as 'physical chess.'”

That capability came in handy Tuesday afternoon for Hysong, who missed his first two jumps in the pole vault at the Class M track and field state championship at Willow Brook Park. Hysong, the top seed in the event, joined the competition at 12 feet.

That meant he needed to clear his next attempt at 12-0, his final try, to keep competing.

Hysong did what was needed and then some, going on to win the pole vault with a leap of 13-0.

He was one of four local winners at the meet, joining Waterford's Devin Craig, who jumped a career-best 6-2 to win the boys' high jump; Stonington's Lincoln Robinson, who took the boys' 300-meter hurdles in 40.82; and Stonington's Kate Hall, who took the girls' 100 in 12.56 seconds.

“With it being my first time at this track, it's a faster track,” Hysong said. “My starting point was too far in. It caused me to be mentally unstable for a bit.

“I had a conversation with my coach (Ledyard girls' coach Dave Tetlow, who is in charge of the technical events for the Colonels boys' and girls' teams). I made some technical adjustments I needed to make. I took a deep breath and calmed down. I thought, 'Now it's time to go to work.'”

In fencing, Hysong was undefeated against Eastern Connecticut Conference opponents during the regular season and was the ECC tournament's foil champ. He said attended an introductory sports night at Ledyard headed into his freshman year.

“The fencing people were very inviting,” Hysong said. “It was incredibly interesting.”

Like Hysong, Craig and Hall dueled against some of the strongest competitors in the state in their events before they even made it past the recent ECC meet.

Hysong was second in the ECC to East Lyme's Josh Leffingwell, Hall was second in the 100 and the 200 behind Griswold's Kalli'Ana Botelho and Craig was eighth with a leap of 5-8. Only Robinson repeated his success at the ECC championship.

“She intimidates me a lot,” Hall said with a smile of Botelho, who competed in three other events at the Class M meet. “She's a hard worker.”

“You have some of the Large Division schools jumping 6-6,” Craig said of the ECC meet.

The athletes competed Tuesday in temperatures hovering around 90 degrees.

A smiling Craig, who also placed in the 110 hurdles (third) and the triple jump (sixth), said he used bursts of energy in his events while trying to stay out of the heat the rest of the time.

“I had to mentally prepare myself,” Craig, a 5-foot-11 junior, said of the high jump. “Tell myself, 'I can do this.' Before, if the bar was higher than me, I'd be scared.”

Hall, a sophomore, is in her first season of track. She considers basketball to be her best sport.

She watched film of her starts prior to the meet and spoke with Bears sprints coach Ben Bowne (head boys' coach) between her preliminary race and the final Tuesday.

“She was kind of all over the place (this week),” Bowne said. “She was nervous at time, confident at times, excited at times. (In the final), she got out quick. She was the first to 10 meters or in the group right in the lead. She's a gamer.”

Hall was fourth in the 200.

Other local finishers in the top three were Montville's Naomi Clark (second, 300 hurdles), Ledyard's Herman Winston (second, 100), Stonington's Cam Whalen (second, 110 hurdles) and Montville's Nik Strickland (second, 300 hurdles). The Ledyard boys' 4x100 team and Montville boys' 4x400 relay teams were third.

Tolland was the girls' team champion with 106 points and Northwest Catholic took the boys' title with 87.

v.fulkerson@theday.com