It was a fitting end to another dominating season for the undefeated Duxbury girls’ swimming and diving team, which made it back-to-back MIAA South Sectional titles Saturday for the fifth sectional swimming title in school history. 

The meet came down to the last event at MIT’s Zesiger Center pool, the 400-yard freestyle relay, with Duxbury down to Hopkinton by 5 points.  

“We knew we had a couple teams gunning for us, those being Hopkinton and Norwell,’’ Duxbury coach Liz Walsh said. “We knew the [400-yard] relays would be instrumental in all of this, and we have some really strong girls that we knew it was going to come down to the last relay.’’  

Hopkinton had a half-second lead going into the fourth leg of the 400. But sophomore Grace Ali, the anchor for the Green Dragons, finished with a 2.75-second edge over Hopkinton. Duxbury’s winning time of 3 minutes, 39.45 seconds was a school record.

Duxbury won the meet by 1 point over Hopkinton, 222-221. 

Duxbury also  broke numerous records in winning the sectionals. Ali placed first in the 100 butterfly (57.22) and the 100 free (53.58), both school records. Classmate Mary Buckley finished first in the individual 100 breaststroke (1:05.80), also a school record. 

“To smash the record like that, it just made the meet that much more fun,’’ Walsh said.  

Walsh went on to say she was, “riding high,’’ but also focused on the Division 2 state championship Feb. 21 at Boston University.

“The North Shore is really talented. To swim against swimmers of that caliber and give these girls a chance to race like that, it’s going to be a fun swim,’’ Walsh said.

Great results weren’t limited to Duxbury.

Franklin sophomore Ashley Loomis won the 200 (1:52.27) and 500 free (4:59.07). Holliston’s Corinne Carbone won the 200 IM in a meet-record 2:05.54.

Bishop Stang sophomore Jeannette King won the 50 free (24.48) and Cohasset’s Julia Klier won the 100 back (58.51). Hopkinton’s Mattie Stauss won the diving (503.90 points) and Hopkinton also won the 200 free relay (1:42.41) .

North sectional — Westford captured its first sectional championship in school history Saturday at MIT.

The Grey Ghosts finished with 297 points to top Marblehead (275) and Beverly (246).

Westford earned top-six finishes in seven of the 12 events. The Grey Ghosts showcased depth the rest of the field could not keep pace with.

Marblehead won the 200-yard medley relay and finished second in the 400-yard freestyle relay, but its ninth-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle proved to be costly. Westford finished in fourth, first, and third, respectively, in the three relays.

Westford coach Caitlin Klick acknowledged her team had plenty of motivation in trying to win the meet for the first time in school history. “We were really gunning for the meet today, and the girls performed beyond my expectations so I’m really pleased with how well they did.’’

Westford finished the season 8-0 to top reigning North Sectional champion Weston for the Dual County League title. “Weston is such a quality program, they’re always one of our rivals,’’ Klick said. Beating Weston in the regular season gave Klick’s team confidence heading into Saturday.

Westford’s top swimmer was freshman Tiffany Tseng, who placed first in the 200 freestyle and third in the 100 butterfly. She also was the anchor for the first-place 200-yard freestyle and third-place 400 free relay teams.

“It’s really surreal,’’ Tseng said of her team’s victory. “I was really nervous. So many of [my teammates] did best times. They did a great job and I’m really proud of them.’’

Beverly senior Kaitlin Harty also had a terrific meet, earning automatic All-America status in the 100-yard butterfly, then setting a state record with a 53.79 finish in the 100-yard backstroke.

This was Harty’s first year swimming for Beverly because she had been home-schooled until this year. She raved about the experience of swimming alongside such a welcoming team.

“I had a lot of fun, and honestly that’s most important for us, to have fun and do the best we can,’’ she said.