Norwich — Having seen his team graduate its top two runners from a year ago, Norwich Free Academy boys' coach Tom Teixeira had the idea the Wildcats of this season might more adequately represent the “field” portion of track and field.

Yet due to the winter weather that has lasted well into spring — with a chilly 10 mph wind Wednesday for a season-opening dual meet against rival East Lyme, the temperature reading said it felt like 38 — NFA hadn't done much practicing for those events.

“With the rain, the snow, the wind … I thought, 'How am I going to get these guys ready?'” Teixeira said. “'I'm not.' We're going to see where we are right now, April 11.”

Somehow, NFA was ready, though.

The Wildcats got three wins from senior Brenden Sholes, just adapting to track following a winter playing for the boys' basketball team, and defeated East Lyme 82-68 despite dropping eight of 11 track events to the star-laden Vikings.

Sholes won the 400 meters in 52.1 seconds, the high jump with a leap of 6 feet and anchored the 4x400 relay team to a victory in an event which tilted the meet toward the Wildcats. East Lyme topped NFA for the ECC Division I indoor track title 156-103.

“Our coach told us, 'Today is probably going to be the hardest day of the season,'” said Sholes, who will play for the men's basketball team next season at UConn Avery Point. “We're not fully there. And we're going up against East Lyme. There was a lot of competing.

“This was a big day for us. Not expecting to win some events, it was a full team day. It was a big team day. (To win), I think we deserve it.”

Sholes joined teammates Josh Achille, Nathan Cote and David Osagie in winning the 4x400 in 3 minutes, 38 seconds.

That pulled NFA within 67-65, cutting significantly into the East Lyme lead.

From there, Sholes led a high jump sweep for the Wildcats, clearing the heights all the way through 6-0 on his first attempt before missing at 6-2. He jumped without stopping to take a mark or measuring his steps, just lightly jogging up to the bar before accelerating into his jump.

Meanwhile, NFA finished 1-2 in the javelin to cap things, with first-place finisher Chris Hebert getting the attention of the gathered teams by clanging a throw off the football scoreboard at the far end of the javelin grid. He won with a throw of 155-11, clinching a team victory.

“It's bizarre,” said Teixeira, summing up the day featuring the early-season matchup against the two league powers. “It sort of snuck up on you."

“I was preparing all week for this,” said NFA's Jahiem Spruill, who won the long jump at 21-2 and placed in two other field events, “working harder at practice, try not to fool around, make sure everybody had their mind right.”

The East Lyme duo of Sam Whittaker and Dylan Hatajik held things down on the track. Whittaker led a sweep in the 800 (2:04) and won the 1,600 (4:50), 3,200 (10:39) and ran a leg of the Vikings' first-place 4x800 relay team (9:08). Hatajik, meanwhile, took the 100 (11.0), 200 (23.1) and was a member of the winning 4x100 relay (44.9). Hatajik was also third in the triple jump.

East Lyme added a win from Akil Chilamkurthi in the 300 hurdles, outscoring NFA 60-27 in track events.

Hebert won the discus (115-4) and the javelin for NFA, which gave up just eight points in the field. Chris Weir took the pole vault, Adelino Daviega the shot put and Justin Costick the triple jump. Osagie also captured a win in the 110 hurdles.

“You've got to have a balanced attack,” East Lyme coach Steve Hargis said. “This year for the throwers, they've never been exposed to this. The track guys are pretty savvy. We just were leaking points.

"This meet, you would expect to be the last event of the season, not the first event of the season. ... We took away a lot from today. I still think we can be in the mix at the ECC (championship meet). It was a good day. I wanted to give our best effort and I think we did.”

v.fulkerson@theday.com