Montville - Shatajah Wattely couldn't help herself.

In a meet that featured Norwich Free Academy winning its fourth straight Eastern Connecticut Conference girls' track and field title and three meet records, the Montville High School junior was still the belle of the ball at her home track.

Wattely won three events, crossing the finish line as she won her last event - the 200 meters - with a huge grin on her face while pumping her arm in celebration.

"This is excellent," she said. "I'm just ecstatic and so happy."

Wattely won the 100, the 200 and the 400.

Her first event, the 100, was before the sun came out and came against NFA's Wahnetah Carty, who she beat by just .01 in the preliminaries.

"I didn't realize she was that close, but that didn't affect me at all," Wattely said. "I like running better when it's a little gloomy out. The sun drains your energy. The 400 was a challenge today. I just had to fight through it."

NFA's Brianna Lenehan won the 800 and the 1,600 to help the Wildcats to another win with 148.5 points. East Lyme was second with 96 points and Ledyard third with 86.

NFA had two 1-2 finishes (pole vault, long jump) and placed at least one athlete in all but two events, once again relying on depth and versatility.

"Our first goal is always to go undefeated, and then always win this meet," NFA coach Kara Kochanski-Vendola said. "I always try to place the girls where they'll do the best individually. The girls were ready. They went out and did it. These girls haven't lost in four years."

Allie Sullivan won the pole vault with a meet record 12 feet, 1/2 inch. She missed on all three attempts at a potential state record of 12-7, drawing cheers from the crowd after her final try.

"It's been so exciting because I've been working so hard," Sullivan, a junior said. "I'm trying to focus on the basics and keep my technique the best I can. We're all just working hard. It's a great group of girls."

Sullivan got the pole vaulting itch in middle school, while her older sister Jessica, who now vaults at Notre Dame, picked it up in high school.

"I definitely started because of her," Allie Sullivan said. "I still talk to her every day."

Said Kochanski-Vendola: "She's a true athlete. She had a tough middle of the season, but she was 11-6 three meets in a row and now this. She stayed at it."

NFA's Nicole Lorinksy finished second in the pole vault, while Carty and Adrianna Velazquez went 1-2 in the long jump. NFA's Yana Babbitt won the javelin.

"She wasn't seeded to win, and that's where you pick up those points," Kochanski-Vendola said of Babbitt.

Stonington's Megan Rose Chapman set a meet record in the discus (131-7), breaking NFA's Janelle Plowden's 1999 mark of 128-9. Chapman was third in the shot put, an event won by Waterford's Elizabeth Bashir, who was third in the discus.

Ledyard's 4x100-meter relay team of Chenoa Sebastian, Emily Loy, Kaylyn Bruciati and Ally Loy set a meet and school record (49.58), while Sebastian won the 100 hurdles.

Fitch's Dyshelle Pemberton won the 300 hurdles and was second in the 200.

o.poole@theday.com