PLATTSBURGH -- Hannah Saiz competed at home for the last time Saturday and the Plattsburgh High School standout turned in yet another splendid performance.
Saiz was the lone four-time winner -- setting a meet record in the 200-yard freestyle -- as PHS successfully defended its title in the Section VII girls' swimming championships at Plattsburgh State. The Hornets never trailed on their way to a 377-point performance. Peru came in second with 352, followed by AuSable Valley, 207, and Moriah, 95.
Saiz admitted "it (her final home meet) hasn't quite sunk in yet. I still have two weeks of practice and I'll be with the main core of our team."
Saturday's event winners qualify for the state championships to be held in two weeks in Buffalo.
Saiz had some personal goals for Saturday, but her main objective was to help PHS repeat as sectional champs.
"More than anything, I wanted us to win, and we did," she said. "We swam well as a team.
"Simone (Arvisais-Anhalt) had her best time in the breaststroke (1:10.67). She did a really good job."
As for her own goals, Saiz "wanted to do decent times in the 200 (freestyle) and 100 fly to have good seed times for states and I was happy with how I swam."
Her winning time of 1:56.51 in the 200-yard freestyle was the only record set Saturday. It still didn't match her best time of the season, but it more than three seconds faster than last year's winning performance. Saiz's time of 59.60 seconds for the 100 butterfly was 4½ seconds faster than her winning time of a year ago.
Saiz also picked up victories in the 200-yard medley relay and 200 freestyle relay.
Arvisais-Anhalt was a three-time winner for PHS, matching her feat of a year ago. She added two relay firsts to her win in the breaststroke.
Caitlin Houle had a big meet for Peru. She swept the freestyle sprints, beating defending 100 champ Megan Gadzuk-Shea by .17 seconds. Houle also anchored the Indians' 400 freestyle relay team to victory.
"Peru had an incredible meet," Saiz pointed out. "They've lost a lot of people the last two years and have a small (in numbers) team."
Sara Connolly won the 500 freestyle for Peru while Kelsie Miller repeated in the 100 backstroke. Each also added a relay first.
AuSable Valley's Sierra Cotrona captured the 200 individual medley in 2:30.81, beating Gadzuk-Shea by .33 of a second.
Plattsburgh High jumped out to a 32-26 lead after the opening medley relay, but Peru, on the strength of Houle's two winning efforts, caught the Hornets at 203 midway through the meet.
Connolly finished first in the 500 freestyle, but PHS grabbed four of the next five places to wind up with a 45-37 advantage in the event. Peru never got closer than eight the rest of the way.
The top 12 swimmers earned points, ranging from 16 for first to 1 for 12th. Relays were worth 32 for first, 26, 24, and 22.
Section VII
Girls' Swimming Championships
Team scores
1, Plattsburgh High, 377. 2, Peru, 352. 3, AuSable Valley, 207. 4, Moriah, 95.
200-yard medley relay -- 1, Plattsburgh High (Sherman, Arvisais-Anhalt, Saiz, Gadzuk-Shea), 2:01.64. 2, Peru (Miller, Connolly, Wilkins, Houle), 2:03.50. 3, Moriah (Dever, Beebe, Donahue, Woods), 2:10.50.
200 freestyle -- 1, Saiz (PHS), 1:56.51 (new meet record). 2, Arvisais-Anhalt (PHS), 2:01.41. 3, Wilkins (Peru), 2:19.02. 4, Guffey (Mor), 2:21.55. 5, Brown (Peru), 2:22.47. 6, Robbins (PHS), 2:22.68.
200 ind medley -- 1, Cotrona (AVC), 2:30.81. 2, Gadzuk-Shea (PHS), 2:31.14. 3, Connolly (Peru), 2:36.73. 4, Hall (PHS), 2:41.00. 5, Schmitt (Peru), 2:44.33. 6, Lemza (Peru), 2:46.01.
50 freestyle -- 1, Houle (Peru), 26.96. 2, Frechette (PHS), 28.22. 3, Kazmarczyk (Peru), 28.44. 4, Geddes (Peru), 28.71. 5, Miller (AVC), 28.86. 6, Casey (AVC), 28.99.
100 butterfly -- 1, Saiz (PHS), 59.60. 2, Wilkins (PHS), 1:08.81. 3, Guffey (Mor), 1:09.31. 4, Frechette (PHS), 1:15.79. 5, Waterhouse (PHS), 1:20.94. 6, Brockbank (Peru), 1:22.09.
100 freestyle -- 1, Houle (Peru), 59.10. 2, Gadzuk-Shea (PHS), 59.27. 3, K. Miller (Peru), 1:01.77. 4, E. Miller (AVC), 1:02.16. 5, Geddes (Peru), 1:04.78. 6, Facteau (AVC), 1:06.49.
500 freestyle -- 1, Connolly (Peru), 6:14.20. 2, LaMora (PHS), 6:25.13. 3, Helwig (PHS), 6:27.51. 4, Sherman (PHS), 6:28.16. 5, Brown (Peru), 6:50.61. 6, Robbins (PHS), 6:50.61.
200 freestyle relay -- 1, PHS (Saiz, Arvisais-Anhalt, Frechette, Helwig), 1:49.40. 2, AuSable (Cotrona, Casey, Miller, Friedrich), 1:54.93. 3, Peru (Geddes, Schmitt, Lemza, Kazmarczyk), 1:57.38. 4, Moriah (Woods, Donahue, Guffey, Dever), 2:18.52.
100 backstroke -- 1, Miller (Peru), 1:07.33. 2, Casey (AVC), 1:09.85. 3, Sherman (PHS), 1:14.61. 4, Lemza (Peru), 1:15.83. 5, Hall (PHS), 1:15.88. 6, Waterhouse (PHS), 1:19.95.
100 breaststroke -- 1, Arvisais-Anhalt (PHS), 1:10.67. 2, Cotrona (AVC), 1:18.89. 3, Friedrich (AVC), 1:19.17. 4, Malone (PHS), 1:23.53. 5, Beebe (Mor), 1:24.14. 6, Schmitt (Peru), 1:24.89.
400 freestyle relay -- 1, Peru (Wilkins, Miller, Connolly, Houle), 4:05.49. 2, PHS (Gadzuk-Shea, Hall, Frechette, Saiz), 4:06.30. 3, AuSable (Facteau, Helfgott, Lawrence, Coolidge), 5:19.08. 4, Moriah (Beebe, Callis, Cline, Dever), 5:19.08.
