New London — The Stonington coaches took a good, hard look at the competition prior to Saturday's Eastern Connecticut Conference Division II boys' indoor track and field championship and believed they had a chance to win.

"We knew it was going to come down to us and Windham, and it was going to be like two points," Stonington head coach Ben Bowne said.

Good call.

Senior Cam Whalen won three events as the Bears edged Windham 117-115 to win the program's first title.

"I'm a math teacher," Bowne said. "Coach (Jeff) Parkinson is a math teacher. We figured that it was going to happen."

The Bears were runnerup to Windham at last year's meet.

"Last year, before this meet, we knew we had a chance (to win the title)," Whalen said. "Before we came here (Saturday), we had a meeting. (Bowne) told everyone that it's never been done and the goal is to put a banner up in the gym."

The Whippets had a 111-109 lead headed into the 4x360 relay, the night's final event. Montville won the race with the Bears finishing second for eight points. Windham received four points for placing fourth.

"They (the Whippets) used all their top athletes in individual events," Bowne said, "so we knew we were in good position going into the (4x360). We planned to have that group ready."

Montville finished third (82) in the final standingsd and Waterford was fourth (64.5).

Griswold scored 106 points to win the girls' title while defending champion Stonington had 90. Montville was third (66.33).

Windham won the most events in the boys meet (five). The Bears had four first-place finishes, but used their depth to win the title. That and a lot of Whalen. He won the 55-meter dash (6.79 seconds), the 300 (36.50) and the 55 hurdles (7.95).

"Cam Whalen is just an amazing athlete, and winning three events helped," Bowne said. "He hadn’t run the 55 (meters) all year. We kind of just played that card today for the first time knowing we'd probably get that result."

Steve Devoe, Jack Ognisty, Chase Flynn and Rhys Hammond won the 4x720 for Stonington (7:55.79).

Alex Korczynski of Windham was the only other athlete to win three individual events (1,000, 1,600 and 3,200).

Waterford senior Devin Craig was another of the meet's big winners. He won the high jump (6 feet, 1 inch) and long jump (19-4.5), besting Montville's Jamir Johnson by a half-inch to win the long jump. Craig was also runnerup to Whalen in the 55 hurdles.

"Long jump, I wasn't expecting first," Craig said. "To end up with first place, I was really surprised. … Long jump is my weakest event."

Montville's Nik Strickland won the 600 (1:26.36). He teamed with Greg Clark, Van Heller and Nick Donnell to win the 4x180 (1:26.70). That foursome also won the 4x360 (3:14.17).

Montville's Ethan Rose, Andrew Petherick, Daltyn Butler and Donnell also won the 1,440 sprint medley relay (3:32.42).

In the girls' meet, Stonington senior Emma Brown successfully defended her pole vault title with a personal best of 9 feet.

"I was so anxious all day," Brown said. "I was a mess on the bus on the way over here I was so nervous. But I used that. I used that as fuel."

Mady Whittaker won the 600 (1:42.58) for Montville. She also teamed with Katelin Price, Rachel Marchini and Michaela MacCracken to win the 4x360 (3:46.25).

Junior Zora Labonte of Waterford won the 300 (42.93) while St. Bernard's Ellen Arvidson, Grace Reilly, Brigid Kunka and Sophia Duhig won the 4x720 (9:52.95).

n.griffen@theday.com