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• 07 / 29 / 2007

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Philadelphia light welterweight Karl Dargan closed his amateur career with a gold medal. He outpointed Jonathan Gonzalez Ortiz of Puerto Rico 9-4.

Other boxing winners were flyweight McWilliams Arroyo of Puerto Rico, 12-11 over Juan Payano of the Dominican Republic; featherweight Idel Torriente of Cuba, 7-5 against Abner Cotto of Puerto Rico; Emilio Correa of Cuba, who beat Argenis Nunez of the Dominican Republic 22-5 in the middleweight division; Osmay Acosta of Cuba, an 11-3 winner over heavyweight Julio Payares of Venezuela; and super heavyweight Robert Alfonso of Cuba, who beat Colombia's Oscar Rivas 8-4.

Chris Estrada of Plains, Texas, took the gold in men's trampoline with a score of 38.80, while teammate Ryan Weston (Cubbuck, Idaho) won bronze. Canada's Karen Cockburn won gold the women's event with a 37.50 score.

Two Americans won gold in sailing. In Laser, Andrew Campbell of San Diego came home first. And in women's Laser Radial, Paige Railey of Clearwater, Fla., was the winner.

Other sailors collecting gold were Ricardo Winicki of Brazil in RS-X and Dominique Vallee of Canada in the women's RS-X; Chile in the Lightning ahead of the United States (Bill Faude, Milwaukee; David Starck, Buffalo; and Jody Starck, Buffalo); and Brazil in J24.

Ariel Rittenhouse (Santa Cruz, Calif.) became a second-generation Pan Ams medalist when she teamed with Kelci Bryant (Chatham, Ill.) to win silver in synchronized 3-meter diving behind favored Mexicans Paola Espinosa and Laura Sanchez. Rittenhouse and Bryant scored 305.10 points, 2.7 behind the winners.

Rittenhouse's mom, then Sharon Finneran, won a swimming gold in the 400-meter individual medley in Sao Paulo in 1963, and uncle Mike Finneran dived to gold on the 3-meter board at the 1971 Games.

The men's 10-meter gold went to Jose Guerra of Cuba.

Xavier Moreno of Ecuador came home first in the men's 50-kilometer walk in 3:52:07. The 110 hurdles title went to Dayron Robles of Cuba in 13.26 seconds, beating David Payne of Cincinnati (13.43).

Yeimer Lopez of Cuba captured the 800 meters in 1:44.58, a games record. Brazil's Sabine Heitling won the women's 3,000 steeplechase in 9:51.13. Fabio Silva of Brazil got the pole vault gold with a leap of 17.72 feet.

But Jadel Gregorio's victory for Brazil in the triple jump was no surprise. One of the world's elite jumpers, Gregorio won gold with 56.66 feet.

The four relays went to four different countries -- none of them the United States.

Jamaica won the women's 400 in 43.58, with the United States getting second. Brazil took the men's race in 38.81, followed by Canada and the United States. Cuba won the women's 1,600 relay in 3:27.51, followed by Mexico and the Americans. The Bahamas won the men's 1,600 in 3:01.94, with the Americans second and the Dominican Republic third.

Canada kayaker Jill D'Alessio won the women's K-1 500-meter race, and her countrywomen, Kia Byers and Marie-Christine Schmidt, were first in the women's K-2 500.

Manuel Cortina of Mexico won the men's K-1 500, Jose Cristobal Quirino of Mexico got the C-1 500 gold, and Cortina combined with Jesus Valdez to win the K-2 men's 500.

Cubans Karel Aguilar and Serguey Tores won the C-2 men's 500.

Ju Lin of the Dominican Republic was the men's table tennis winner.

The United States moved up to 235 medals: 96 gold, 87 silver, 52 bronze. Cuba was next in gold with 59, while Brazil's 157 total medals was runner-up.

 

TEAMS

Another U.S. team claimed a spot in the Beijing Olympics when the synchronized swimmers took a gold medal. The squad entertained the crowd with a mime theme and swam to a 95.667 scored. Canada was next, followed by Brazil.

Team members are Brooke Abel (Fallbrook, Calif.), Janet Culp (Littleton, Colo.), Kate Hooven (Pleasanton, Calif.), Christina Jones (Missoula, Mont.), Becky Kim (Walnut Creek, Calif.), Meghan Kinney, (Mission Viejo, Calif.) Andrea Nott (San Jose, Calif.), Annabelle Orme (Walnut Creek, Calif.), Jillian Penner (Seattle) and Kim Probst (Troy, N.Y.).

The American men won the archery competition by beating Canada 218-210. Gold medalists were Vic Wunderle (Mason City, Ill.), Butch Johnson (Webster, Mass.) and Brady Ellison (Globe, Texas). It was the third Pan Ams golds for Wunderle and Johnson, who also won in 1995 and 1999.

The U.S. women got bronze by beating Mexico 1998-194. Medals winners were Jenny Nichols (Cheyenne, Wyo.), Lindsay Pian (Scottsdale, Ariz.) and Karen Scavotto (Enfield, Conn.)

Colombia won the women's gold, with Canada second.

Brazil's top-ranked men easily handled the U.S. volleyball team 25-16, 25-20, 25-22 to win the gold medal. Cuba beat Venezuela for the bronze.

Brazil captured the futsal (indoor soccer) championship with a 4-1 win over Argentina. Falcao scored twice for the winners.

The United States won its consolation match in a penalty kick shootout against Cuba 5-4 after a 2-2 tie in regulation. John Ball of Newtown, Conn., and Troy Dusosky of Anoka, Minn., had the U.S. goals in regulation. They also connected in the shootout, as did Patrick Morris of Phialdelphia, Don Dambra of Philadelphia, and Joe Hammes of Cedarburg, Wis. When goalkeeper Brett Phillips of Syracuse, N.Y., stopped Isven Roman in the shootout, it provided the winning margin.

Puerto Rico and Brazil moved into the men's basketball final. The Puerto Ricans beat Argentina 89-80 as Jose Juan Berea of the Dallas Mavericks scored 25 points. Then Brazil defeated Uruguay 85-73.

The Americans beat the Virgin Islands 84-58 in a consolation game.

 

SOFTBALL WOES

The world champion U.S. team didn't have to take the field to earn a gold medal in softball. After an all-day rain forced cancellation of the gold medal game with Venezuela, the Americans were awarded the top spot because of their 4-0 record. Venezuela finished 3-1.

The softball competition was plagued by rain and poor field conditions all week.

 

SWITCHING VENUES

The bronze medal matches in tennis were moved indoors to the Academy of Tennis because of heavy rains Saturday. There were no facilities for fans to watch the matches, however.

Argentina's Eduardo Schwank beat Michael Quintero of Colombia 6-4, 6-0 in singles. In doubles, Mexico's Santiago Gonzalez and Victor Romero defeated Dominicans Victor Estrella and Johnson Garcia 7-6 (4), 6-2.

 

STARS OF THE DAY

Christina Jones (Missoula, Mont.) and Andrea Nott (San Jose, Calif.),won their second synchronized swimming gold medal, helping the U.S. team to a berth in the Beijing Olympics. Earlier in the games, they won the duet for another Beijing spot.

 

Cuban boxers, who won four gold medals on Saturday and finished with five golds overall.

 

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"This was a huge eye-opener for us. "It's a lot different to race internationally; the competition is really tough. There is a lot we need to work on but, we're young and can make huge improvements." -- U.S. kayaker Eric Abbott (Honolulu) after the Americans didn't win any medls in canoe or kayak competition.

 

"Yesterday, we lost to Brazil, but tomorrow it will be different. It will be another match. I am confident we'll win the gold medal." -- Puerto Rico guard Jose Juan Barea of the Dallas Mavericks after his nation made the men's basketball final by beating Argentina 89-80.

 

"It feels great. I'm so happy to be following a family tradition. I've had so fun much here. I'm having the time of my life. I felt good out there. It's a little disappointing that we missed out on gold by about two points, but overall, it's been fantastic." -- Ariel Rittenhouse, 16, who combined with Kelci Chatham to win a silver medal. Rittenhouse's mom won swimming gold in 1963 in Sao Paulo.

Source: The Hays Daily News