INDIANAPOLIS, Sept. 1, 2010 – The U.S. Team begins competition tomorrow at the The Pan American Championships in Guadalajara, Mexico, at the Lopez Mateos Sports Center. The event is the men’s and women’s gymnastics qualifying event for the 2011 Pan American Games, also set for Guadalajara.
Competition begins with the combined team and all-around finals on Thursday, Sept. 2. The U.S. Men’s Team competes in Subdivision 2 and start on parallel bars at approximately 1:30 p.m. MCT. The men’s team is comprised of Dylan Akers of Kingwood, Texas/Cypress Academy of Gymnastics; Alex Buscaglia of Cary, Ill./Stanford University; Jake Dalton of Sparks, Nev./University of Oklahoma; Bryan Del Castillo of Laguna Niguel, Calif./University of California, Berkeley; Wesley Haagensen of Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Olympic Training Center; and Glen Ishino of Santa Ana, Calif./University of California, Berkeley.
For the women’s team and all-around, the U.S. women’s squad will compete in Subdivision 3, beginning on vault, on Friday, Sept. 3, at approximately 3:30 p.m. MCT. The U.S. women’s team features: Gabrielle Douglas of Virginia Beach, Va./Excalibur Gymnastics; Brenna Dowell of Odessa, Mo./GAGE; Sarah Finnegan of Lake Latawanna, Mo./GAGE; McKayla Maroney of Laguna Niguel, Calif./All Olympia; Kyla Ross of Aliso Viejo, Calif./Gym-Max; and Sabrina Vega of Carmel, N.Y./Dynamic Gymnastics.
The individual event finals schedule is: Saturday, Sept. 4 at 4 p.m. – women’s vault, men’s floor exercise and pommel horse, 6 p.m. – women’s uneven bars, men’s still rings; Sunday, Sept. 5 at 4 p.m. – women’s balance beam, men’s vault, 6 p.m. – women’s floor exercise, men’s parallel bars and horizontal bar.
The Pan American Championships, held every two years, is expected to include teams from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, United States, Uruguay, and Venezuela.