New Haven — It was a long wait for the Ledyard High School boys to find out the results of the 4x200-meter relay.

What was the first event of the day at the Class M championship meet at the Floyd Little Athletic Center, which began at 10 a.m., finally concluded a little after 3 p.m. Saturday when the Colonels were finally broadcast over the public address system as champions.

James Smith, Travon Brown, Jahmik Devone and Robbie Petriel won in 1 minute, 34.64 seconds.

The holdup was a collision in the morning race involving Stonington. The Bears were permitted to re-run the 4x200 — alone — following the conclusion of the meet. Their time placed them sixth, giving Ledyard the title.

"It's a really exhilarating experience," Smith said. "I wish everyone could feel it, but we put in the time and effort for it. ... It's nervewracking (waiting) because anything can happen, but our coach thought it would be tough for them to beat us. I was pretty confident. My team did what they had to do at the most crucial time."

The rest of the local titles Saturday belonged to the Stonington boys.

Rhys Hammond won the 1,000 in 2:31.80 and came back to anchor the Bears' sprint medley relay team, which finished first, as well, in 3:41.84. He joined Ben Abely, Martin Vernet and Joey Hinckley. And Stonington's Greyson DelGrosso won the shot put title with a throw of 48 feet, 4 inches.

Norwich Tech's Jagger Petersen tied for second in the boys' high jump at 5-10. Hinckley was third in the pole vault (13-6) and Waterford's Jared Lovell was third in the 55 hurdles (8.04). Stonington finished fourth in the team race with 38 points.

Stonington's girls' 4x800 team of Emma Small, Jess Detwiler, Megan Detwiler and Lindsey Orr was second in 9:56.86.

Individually, Hammond, a junior, and DelGrosso, a senior, captured the first state championships of their careers.

"It means so much. I've come in second so many times," said Hammond, who charged ahead of Branford's Marzio Mastroianni headed into the fifth and final lap of the 1,000. "To win an individual event is really cool.

"Our coaches give us really good workouts to do to help time it. We do a strong race at the beginning (of the season), then we tailed off at the end. We did some speed work this week, which helped on that last lap. I felt like I had a lot of energy left."

DelGrosso, meanwhile, considers the discus and the javelin — neither contested in indoor track — as his strongest throwing events. The 6-foot-2, 180-pound DelGrosso is also proficient in mixed martial arts.

"I love it," DelGrosso said of martial arts. "The completing of (a move) is just so intriguing. I feel it so deeply. The feeling is a greater rush than anything in my life. But one (track) is hopefully going to pay for college."

Ledyard's 4x200 team made up for last week's second-place finish — behind Stonington — in the 4x180 relay at the Eastern Connecticut Conference Division II meet. Smith said that Petriel has been running with a sore quad, which affected him at the ECC meet.

"He's been doing a lot," Smith said of Petriel's preparation for the state meet. "He felt really bad. He made sure he was going to make up for it today."

Smith was also fifth in the 55 dash and paced Ledyard's sprint medley relay team to a sixth-place finish. Ledyard's Brown was fourth in the 55. Waterford's 4x200 team was fourth and Stonington's 4x400 team was sixth.

Stonington's Keegan Donohue was fourth in the girls' pole vault and Orr fifth in the 1,000. Stonington's girls were fifth in the sprint medley relay.

Hillhouse swept the team competition, winning the boys' title with 87 points and the girls with 76.

v.fulkerson@theday.com