Wednesday, July 31
Team USA athletes shone bright in Lima, claiming medals in equestrian, gymnastics, squash and synchronized swimming, among others, on the final day of July at the Pan American Games.
Below are recaps of Team USA’s performances for the day. For live scores and results, please click here.
Podium Finishes:
Equestrian (1 gold, 1 bronze)
Sarah Lockman earned gold and Jennifer Baumert clinched bronze in the individual dressage event with their Intermediate I Freestyle performances. Lockman rode First Apple to top the podium with a score of 78.980 percent. Baumert, aboard Handsome, finished with a 75.755 percent. Canada’s Tina Irwin earned silver with Laurencio, earning a score of 77.780 percent.
Gymnastics (1 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze)
U.S. gymnasts continued their strong performances at the Games, raking in four medals for the day.
To start the day, Kara Eaker claimed the gold and Riley McCusker earning bronze in the women’s beam final. Eaker performed the hardest routine of the field with a 6.6 difficulty and the risk paid off as she earned a score of 15.266 points. McCusker was the only other woman in the final to attempt a routine with a difficulty higher than 6.0. Despite losing some points on execution, her 6.1-difficulty routine scored a total of 13.333 points to clinch third. McCusker was edged out of second place by Canada’s Elsabeth Black, who earned 13.566 points.
Cameron Brock earned Team USA’s second gymnastics bronze of the day, this time in the men’s parallel bars. His 14.033 was enough to claim the third-place finish behind Mexico’s Isaac Nunez (14.433) and Brazil’s Caio Souza (14.366). Teammate Brody Malone earned fifth with 13.533 points.
Eaker found herself back on the podium less than two hours later as she earned silver in the women’s floor routine competition. Eaker’s 13.800 points earned her second place behind Canada’s Brooklyn Moors, who earned 13.900 points. Flavia Saraiva from Brazil rounded out the top three. McCusker also competed in the event, finishing fifth with 13.300 points.
Genki Suzuki competed in the men’s parallel bar, earning 13.800 points in the final for sixth place.
Shooting (1 gold, 1 silver)
Team USA athletes earned the gold and silver medals in an exciting mixed trap team final. In the morning’s qualification, the duo of Rachel Tozier and Brian Burrows set a Pan American record in the qualification stage with a total score of 140. Fellow Americans Ashley Carroll and Derek Haldeman earned a score of 138, qualifying in third behind Canada and ahead of Guatemala after a three-team shoot-off.
In afternoon’s final, Carroll and Haldeman took advantage of the clean slate to tie with Tozier and Burrows, with both teams shooting a Pan American record of 42 targets. In the shoot-off between the two American teams, Carroll and Haldeman were able to clinch the gold medal with eight targets, while Tozier and Burrows took home the silver medal with seven targets. Canada rounded out the podium in third.
In the men’s 25-meter fire pistol qualifying event, Americans Keith Sanderson and Jack Leverett finished the first stage ranked second and sixth, both within qualifying position. Sanderson earned a score of 291-7x with a 9.700 average, just behind the first-place competitor, Cuban Jorge Alvarez Llanes, who earned score of 291-9x (also for a 9.7000 average). Leverett finished the stage with a score of 286-7x and an average of 9.533. The top six athletes after the second stage on Aug. 1 will qualify for the final.
Squash (2 golds)
Olivia Blatchford Clyne, Amanda Sobhy and Sabrina Sobhy earned gold in the women’s team event, clinching Team USA back-to-back titles in the event. In a repeat from 2015 finals, the American women faced off against Canada – once again the U.S. came out victorious. Blatchford Clyne and Amanda Sobhy were both on the 2015 winning team as well. Earlier in the day, the American trio defeated Mexico in the semifinals. The U.S. team won all three games to earn the spot in the finals.
Andrew Douglas, Christopher Hanson and Todd Harrity clinched the top spot in the men’s team event to give USA Squash a double-gold victory for day. In the semifinals, the team edged out Mexico, 2-1. The Americans dropped their first match but bounced back with a victory in the second match. In the must-win third match, Douglas battled through five sets, clinching the 3-2 win to secure Team USA’s spot in the finals. The title match followed a similar pattern, as the U.S. men split the first two matches against Colombia. The competition once again came down to Douglas’s match, but he shouldered the pressure smoothly and won 3-1 to claim the gold medal for Team USA.
Synchronized Swimming (2 bronzes)
The U.S. pair of Anita Alvarez and Ruby Remati earned the bronze medal in the duet event after a strong free routine. In third place after the technical routine on July 29, the Americans gave another strong performance in the free routine to maintain their ranking and claim the podium spot. Alvarez and Remati earned a score of 85.9333 in the free finals. Coupled with a score of 84.7365 in the technical, they finished third with a total of 170.6698 points behind first-place Canada (180.0343) and Mexico (174.3661).
In the team competition, the U.S. women also clinched a podium finish, placing third for the bronze medal. In third place after the technical routine on July 29, the team was able to hold onto the ranking with an 86.667-point performance in the free routine for a combined score of 170.8114 points. The team podium mirrored the duet podium, with Canada earning the gold medal with 179.6731 points and Mexico taking silver with 175.1243 points.
Other results:
Badminton
Team USA competed in the quarterfinals across five badminton events, advancing to the semifinals in four of them.
In mixed doubles, Paula Obanana and Howard Shu defeated Peru’s Diego Mini and Danica Nishimura in the quarterfinals. The first game proved tight as Shu and Obanana dropped the game, 20-22, but the duo came back to earn decisive victories in games two and three. The 21-12 and 21-16 wins earned Shu and Obanana the 2-1 win to advance to the semifinals.
Less than thirty minutes later, the U.S. would once again face Peru, this time in the women’s singles event. American Iris Wang squared up against Peru’s Daniela Macias in the quarterfinals. Wang earned the victory in two sets, 21-10 and 21-12, to clinch a spot in the semifinals.
Phillip Chew and Ryan Chew continued the momentum for Team USA with a win against Mexico in the men’s doubles quarterfinals. The brothers won the match in two games, 21-16 and 21-17 to advance. In women’s doubles, Kuei-Ya Chen and Jamie Hsu also advanced with the victory over Cuba, winning in two games, 21-16 and 21-15.
Team USA also competed in men’s singles, where Timothy Lam fell to Brazil’s Coelho Ygor in the quarterfinals, 2-0, and did not advance.
Basketball
Led by Alpha Diallo earning 20 points, Team USA defeated the Virgin Islands in the first preliminary game of the men’s tournament. Diallo jump-started the game with a three-point basket nine seconds in, and the U.S. men continued to lead throughout the 40 minutes. Team USA was up 56-43 going into the second half and kept the momentum rolling to end the game 119-84.
Field Hockey
The U.S. women defeated Chile in its second match of preliminary pool play. Down 2-0 going into the fourth period, Team USA stormed back in the last 15 minutes. Starting with Erin Matson, four different players scored for the U.S. to clinch a 4-2 victory. With the win, the team heads into its final preliminary game on Aug. 2 with a 2-0 record.
Softball
The U.S. men’s softball team had their winning streak snapped with a loss to Argentina. A difficult first inning saw Team USA fall behind 4-0 and the team was ultimately unable to come back from the deficit, losing the game 7-0. The team has a chance at redemption, facing Mexico on Aug. 1 for a spot in the grand final. Previously in the preliminary play of the tournament, the U.S. men defeated Mexico 6-2.
Surfing
After earning first his heat of the first main round, Cole Robbins continued his success in men’s longboard with a win in his heat of the second main round, earning a total of 15.10 points ahead of Uruguay’s Julian Schweizer (11.14) and Argentina’s Surfiel Gil Lo Prete (8.10). The American earned 8.57 points in his first scored wave and followed that up with a ride worth 6.53 points. With this victory, Robbins will advance to the third main round on Aug. 1.
On the women’s side, Tiare Thompson improved upon her second-place finish in her heat of the first main round to win her heat of second main round. Thompson bested the competition by nearly 2.5 points and will advance to the third main round on Aug. 1.
In the second day of SUP surfing, Americans Candice Appleby and Daniel Hughes both placed second in their heats. Appleby earned a two-wave total of 8.07 points and Hughes earned a total of 11.50. The results earn both Appleby and Hughes spots in the third main round of competition, which takes place Aug. 1.
Team Handball
In its first game of preliminary round, the U.S. men’s team handball team fell to Argentina. Team USA’s Ian Hueter opened the scoring 32 seconds into the game, but the U.S. was ultimately unable to keep the lead and fell to Argentina, 25-38. The team will compete again on Aug. 1 against Cuba.
Tennis
The American singles players found success on the court today as the three competitors advanced. On the women’s side, the U.S.’s Usue Arconada defeated Canada’s Alexandra Vagramov in two sets, 7-5 and 6-2 to advance to the quarterfinals. Fellow American Caroline Dolehide needed three sets, but ultimately claimed the victory against Mexico’s Marcela Zacarias, 6-1, 6-7 and 6-1 to clinch her spot in the quarterfinals. On the men’s side, Michael Redlicki won in two sets to advance to the third round, besting Bolivia’s Federico Zeballos, 6-2 and 6-0.
In mixed doubles, the American duo of Alexa Graham and Sam Riffice fell to Colombia in the first round and did not advance. In the second round of men’s doubles, Redlicki and teammate Kevin King fell to Ecuador, 2-0, to miss out on the quarterfinal competition.
Volleyball
The U.S. men’s volleyball team faced Chile in its first match of preliminary play. After dropping the first two sets, 17-25 and 17-25, Team USA was able to reverse the trend in the third set, winning 25-17. Unfortunately, the team was unable to keep the momentum going and dropped the fourth set, 22-25 to fall to Chile, 3-1. The team will play again on Aug. 1, competing against Mexico as the preliminary round continues.