Coming into the final day of swimming at the Sundance Championship meet, Cameron D’Archangeli was wishing for one more chance to prove himself. After a disappointing 10th place finish in the preliminaries, D’Archangeli was the second alternate in the 9- and 10-year-old 25-yard freestyle.

D’Archangeli got his wish. Two of the participants in the event showed up late to the meet, opening the door for D’Archangeli. He didn’t win the event, but he did show everyone he was better than 10th place, finishing third.

“He proved to people that he wasn’t going to finish last, and he wanted to show people he was better than 10th,” Hurricanes coach Sandra Wright said. “He was pumped.”

D’Archangeli also got fifth in the 25 breaststroke on Sunday.

Another 9-10 age division surprise was the performance of Tomas Rodriguez, who finished second in the 25 backstroke. Rodriguez and D’Archangeli also combined to win seventh place in the 9-10 100 medley relay, with the help of Jesse Moya and Adam Carrillo, and 11th place in the 100 freestyle relay with Moya and Ryan Martinez.

“With these boys, they were running on pure adrenaline,” Wright said. “They are very good swimmers, and they have been focused all season.”

Jackie Garcia also shocked some people. Though she has been swimming for some time, this was the first year Garcia swam the 100 freestyle, and she finished eighth overall.

“She is an all-around good swimmer,” Wright said of Garcia. “She wanted to try this, and she did pretty well.”

Garcia also helped her 13-14 relay team to a pair of good finishes. Garcia, Keitta Torres, Sierra Rodriguez and Davrie Sandon finished sixth in the 200 medley relay and ninth in the 100 freestyle relay. Sandon also finished fifth in the 50 breaststroke. Torres was seventh in the 50 backstroke and 50-yard butterfly.

The team placed 15th overall out of 16 teams. Wright said that the team being as small as it is has a lot to do with their low finish. Still, she was proud of her team.

“The team sticks together,” Wright said. “I’m very pleased with the outcome, but I’d like to see more different age groups do well and to see more kids qualify for the second day.

“The majority of the kids ranked in the top 20, and a lot of the kids did even better than that. That’s great for this team.”

The Hurricanes had so much trouble getting enough kids to compete at the meet, they had to combine some age groups. The 15-18 boys and girls relay teams only had one 17-year-old apiece. Roman Gutierrez was the lone 17-year-old boy on the team, while Victoria Martinez, 17, anchored the girls 15-18 team. Gutierrez combined with Nick Chavez, 15, Renee Rivera Jr., 14, and Clovis Rivera, 11, for an eighth and an 11th place finish in the 200 medley relay and 100 freestyle relay, respectively. Martinez was joined by Ashley Rosales, 14, and Francis Sisneros and Candice D’Archangeli, both 13, to finish 10th in the 200 medley relay.

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