Brian Lee won gold in the cadet male heavyweight division

COSTA RICA (Aug. 30, 2017) -- American athletes got off to a rousing start on Tuesday as the Pan American Cadet & Junior and Para Taekwondo Championships opened in Costa Rica. The United States tallied 34 medals, including five from the U.S. National Team. The total included seven in sparring, 19 in poomsae and eight in para taekwondo.

JUNIOR SPARRING

Competing for the U.S. Junior National Team, Alasan Ann won bronze in the male +78kg division. Elsewhere, Melanie Diaz captured bronze in the female -68kg class.

National Team member Alena Viana won gold in the female cadet heavyweight division, with Adrianna Larocca taking silver

CADET SPARRING

Four athletes competing for the U.S. National Team reached the podium, led by gold-medal performances from Alena Viana (female +59kg) and Brian Lee (male +65kg). Cheyenne Wright (female -59kg) took silver and Kane Church (male -65kg) won bronze.

Adrianna Larocca was runner-up to Viana in the female +59kg class.

The U.S. National Team squads are led by coaches Dennis Kim, Dennis White, Sang Cha, Sabrina Salim, Marlen Moreno, Lynda Laurin, Andrew Suh and Russ Gale.

Ryan Real won gold in the cadet male poomsae class with Colton Sidell claiming bronze

JUNIOR POOMSAE

Gold medals were claimed by the pairs team of Ethan Sun and Karyn Real, and by the male team of Eugene Kimura, Kevin Jiang and Casey Liu.

Winning silver was the female team of Viviana Cao, Rachel Bae and Esther Jo.

Three bronze medals were claimed by junior poomsae competitors, including individual medals from Karyn Real and Kyle Tanimura. In the pairs event, Tanimura teamed with Bae to take home the bronze.

CADET POOMSAE

Ryan Real reached the top step of the podium in the individual male competition, and the pairs team of Jacob Gonzaga and Sharlene Duong also earned gold.

Piper Kindle claimed the silver medal in the individual female event, and the American male and female teams also earned silver. Chiara Flotildes, Trystan Haley Contreras and Victoria Hsu joined forces for the female team, while Ethan Sen, Brandon Cho and Ryal Real claimed the male team silver.

The four bronze medals in cadet poomsae were won by Colton Sidell (male individual), Aditya Bhattacharyya and Anika Walch (pairs), McKenzie Sou, Anika Walch and Sarah Kwak (female team), and Michael Mora, Gabriel Mora and Sergio Paez (male team).

FREESTYLE POOMSAE

Ryan "KT" Kim and Aleena Duong teamed up to take the pairs gold medal in freestyle poomsae, while Armen Diego Polanco was a bronze medalist in the male individual. In the mixed team event, the U.S. squad of Jaden Kim, Arianna Le, Ethan Huang, Piper Kindle and Sharlene Duong won the bronze medal.

U.S. athletes stood on the top three steps of the male K44 +75kg podium as Evan Medell won gold, Johnny Birch took silver and Corbin Stacey claimed bronze

PARA TAEKWONDO

American athletes competing in the para taekwondo competition on Tuesday claimed three gold medals. Evan Medell won gold in the male K44 +75kg division, Daniel Espinosa won the male K42 -75kg class, and Alyssa Fencil captured gold in the female K44 +58kg event.

Silver medalists were Michael Kacer (male K42 -75kg), Briana Salinaro (female K44 -58kg) and Johnny Birch (male K44 +75kg).

Taking bronze medals were Felix Sabates (male K44 -75kg) and Corbin Stacey (male K44 +75kg).

Competition at the Pan American Cadet & Junior and Para Taekwondo Championships runs through Friday.