PLATTSBURGH — The biggest winner Saturday in the Section VII girls' swimming championships never got wet.

Lauren Caniano, who doubles as coach of Peru and the Lake Champlain Waves, watched her Indians capture the sectional title by 68 points, ending Plattsburgh High's two-year reign. And many of the girls who chased Peru to the championship also swim for Caniano with the Waves.

"I'm proud of my Peru girls, but, really, I'm happy for all the girls," Caniano commented. "A lot of the girls who placed in the top six are active with the Waves; the program has grown quite a bit the last two years."

Caniano will continue on with the Waves, but Saturday's sectional meet was her swan song at Peru.

"This is my last year," she acknowledged. "I was pregnant last season and my son (Ryan) is 6 months old now. Doing both teams ... and I'm starting a new job soon ... is too much."

Peru made certain Caniano went out a winner with triple-winner Molly Wilkins and double-winners Caitlin Houle and Kelsie Miller leading the charge. Peru also had an edge in numbers.

"My team was deeper than AuSable Valley and PHS. We have fewer superstars this year, but a lot of depth," Caniano pointed out.

Peru held a slim lead in the early going, especially with Cara Sorensen's stunning upset in the 50-yard freestyle. The PHS standout, a triple-winner on the day, handed Peru's Houle her first loss in the 50 free in two years, touching out in 27.88 seconds. Houle was second in 28.10.

"That was the biggest surprise of the meet. Cara really swam well today," Caniano said.

Houle, shaken a bit by the loss, recovered nicely to win the 100 freestyle two events later, beating Sorensen by 2½ seconds.

Peru started to pull away at that point.

"The back half of the meet is our strong point," Caniano related. "We go heavy on the fly, the 500 free, the back and the breast. The breaststroke was the tightest race I've seen. It came down to who ever dove at the wall first."

That would be AuSable Valley's Sierra Cotrona, who won in 1:15.19, just ahead of Peru's Sarah Connelly, timed in 1:15.52.

By that point, Peru had the team title well in hand, thanks to 1-3-5-6 finish in the butterfly and victories in the 100 and 500 freestyle events.

Cotrona doubled for AuSable Valley, which also got a win from Brittany Friedrich in the 200 freestyle.

Sorensen added two relay firsts while teammates Christine Cassone and Becca Robbins were double winners.

The first-place finishers will go on to represent the section at the state meet on Long Island in two weeks.

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Section VII

Girls' Swimming Championships

Saturday, Nov. 7

Plattsburgh State

Team scores

1. Peru388

2. Plattsburgh320

3. AuSable Valley248

4. Moriah 61

200 medley relay

1. Peru2:03.59

(Connelly, Houle, Miller, Wilkins)

2. AuSable Valley2:04.42

3. Plattsburghno time

200 freestyle

1. Friedrich, AuSable2:16.08

2. Robbins, Plattsburgh2:18.84

3. Brown, Peru2:19.80

4. Frechette, Plattsburgh2:28.01

5. Brockbank, Peru2:33.30

6. Jarvis, Peru2:35.92

7, Doolen (P), 2:36.87. 8, Geddes (P), 2:40.59. 9, Simard (M), 2:43.83. 10, Darrah (AVC), 2:44.24. 11, Coolidge (AVC), 2:44.39. 12, Taylor (M), 3:21.09.

200 individual medley

1. Cotrona, AuSable2:24.91

2. Miller, Peru2:33.33

3. Connelly, Peru2:33.10

4. Kelly, Plattsburgh2:37.47

5. Hall, Plattsburgh2:41.05

6. Lemza, Peru2:44.53

7, Keyser (PHS), 2:48.40. 8, Fisher (PHS), 2:48.40. 9, Barber (P), 3:05.80. 10, Dever (M), 3:18.88. 11, Braid (AVC), 3:16.96. 12, Callis (M), 3:24.74.

50 freestyle

1. Sorensen, Plattsburgh27.88

2. Houle, Peru28.10

3. Cassone, Plattsburgh28.24

4. Kazmarczyk, Peru28.89

5. Geddes, Peru29.27

6. Facteau, AuSable29.57

7, Murphy (AVC), 30.06. 8, Harrigan (PHS), 30.22. 9, Jones (P), 30.66. 10, Garrand (AVC), 31.93. 11, Davis (AVC), 32.25. 12, O'Toole (AVC), 39.39.

100 butterfly

1. Wilkins, Peru1:08.33

2. Kelly, Plattsburgh1:13.80

3. Kazmarczyk, Peru1:16.52

4. Waterhouse, Plattsburgh1:18.55

5. Brockbank, Peru1:21.33

6. Silverman, Peru1:25.77

7, Cook (AVC), 1:27.06. 8, Simard (M), 1:27.81. 9, Helfgott (AVC), 1:29.09. 10, Jarvis (PHS), 1:32.14. 11, Rosney (PHS), 1:38.57. 12, Lawrence (AVC), 1:49.71.

100 freestyle

1. Houle, Peru1:00.88

2. Sorensen, Plattsburgh1:03.35

3. Casey, AuSable1:06.05

4. Geddes, Peru1:06.15

5. LeClair, Peru1:06.74

6. Harrigan, Plattsburgh1:07.15

7, Murphy (AVC), 1:08.83. 8, Jones (P), 1:09.44. 9, Cochran (M), 1:13.95. 10, Coolidge (AVC), 1:14.51. 11, Darrah (AVC), 1:14.66. 12, Kerr (PHS), 1:16.55.

500 freestyle

1. Wilkins, Peru6:04.64

2. Friedrich, AuSable6:12.63

3. Brown, Peru6:18.64

4. Robbins, Plattsburgh6:31.57

5. Lemza, Peru6:41.31

6. Frechette, Plattsburgh6:39.94

7, Dever (M), 6:56.42. 8, Doolen (P), 7:10.26. 9, Cook (AVC), 7:12.32. 10, Agoney (AVC), 7:19.69. 11, Feazelle (PHS), 7:38.57. 12, Hoey (AVC), 7:38.68.

200 freestyle relay

1. Plattsburgh1:52.20

(Cassone, Frechette, Robbins, Sorensen)

2. Peru1:52.77

3. AuSable Valley1:54.05

4. Moriah2:38.33

100 backstroke

1. Miller, Peru1:07.91

2. Casey, AuSable1:11.53

3. Hall, Plattsburgh1:14.82

4. Barkla, Peru1:17.17

5. Keyser, Plattsburgh1:18.64

6. Helfgott, AuSable1:18.72

7, Altizer (P), 1:19.63. 8, Haber (P), 1:20.10. 9, Facteau (AVC), 1:21.53. 10, Waterhouse (PHS), 1:21.75. 11, O'Toole (AVC), 1:24.03.

100 breaststroke

1. Cotrona, AuSable1:15.19

2. Connelly, Peru1:15.52

3. Cassone, Plattsburgh1:21.25

4. Altizer, Peru1:26.15

5. LeClair, Peru1:28.32

6. McMahon, Plattsburgh1:28.89

7, Garrand (AVC), 1:31.45. 8, Pobocik (PHS), 1:33.12. 9, Callis (M), 1:36.74. 10, Feazelle (PHS), 1:37.56. 11, Altizer (P), 1:40.66. 12, Lawrence (AVC), 1:51.18.

400 freestyle relay

1. Plattsburgh4:09.42

(Cassone, Kelly, Robbins, Sorensen)

2. Peru4:17.65

3. AuSable Valley4:51.06

4. Moriah5:28.93