GUADALAJARA, Mexico, Sept. 3, 2010 – The U.S. Women’s Team won the team title at the 2010 Pan American Championships at the Lopez Mateos Sports Center in Guadalajara, Mexico. Kyla Ross of Aliso Viejo, Calif., and Sabrina Vega of Carmel, N.Y., went one-two in the all-around. By winning the team title, the U.S. women qualified the United States for women’s gymnastics for the 2011 Pan American Games, also set in Guadalajara. Men’s and women’s individual event finals are scheduled for Sept. 4-5.
With a team score of 232.030, the U.S. women easily won the team title. Canada was second at 213.463 and Brazil was third at 212.994. The U.S. women had the top team scores for all four apparatus: vault, 60.833; uneven bars, 57.699; balance beam, 57.332; and floor exercise, 56.166.
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; Ross, who trains at Gym-Max; and Vega, who trains at Dynamic Gymnastics.
Ross won the all-around title with 57.998 points, followed by Vega at 57.633. Venezuela’s Jessica Lopez was third at 57.099. The USA’s Douglas posted a 55.833 for an all-around score, but was unranked due to the maximum two athletes per country rule. Ross posted the highest score for the uneven bars (14.566), second highest for floor (14.066) and third best for balance beam (14.266). Her vault score was 15.100. Vega had the top score for balance beam (14.800) and third highest for floor (13.900). Her other two scores were vault at 14.700 and bars at 14.233.
The U.S. women who advanced to the individual event finals are: vault – Maroney; uneven bars – Ross and Douglas; balance beam – Vega and Finnegan; and floor exercise – Maroney and Ross. Several U.S. women did not advance to event finals due to the maximum two athletes per country rule: Dowell and Vega, uneven bars; Ross and Maroney, balance beam; and Vega and Douglas, floor exercise.
Earlier in the competition, the U.S. men won the team title, and Glen Ishino of Santa Ana, Calif./University of California – Berkeley, captured the all-around silver medal.
The five U.S. men competing in the individual event finals are: floor exercise – Jake Dalton of Sparks, Nev./University of Oklahoma, and Ishino; pommel horse – Bryan Del Castillo of Laguna Niguel, Calif./University of California – Berkeley, and Ishino; still rings – Wes Haagensen of Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Olympic Training Center; vault – Alex Buscaglia of Cary, Ill./Stanford University , and Dalton; and horizontal bar – Buscaglia and Haagensen. Dalton is the second reserve athlete for parallel bars.
The individual event finals schedule is: Saturday, Sept. 4, at 4 p.m. (women’s vault, men’s floor exercise and pommel horse) and 6 p.m. (women’s uneven bars, men’s still rings); and Sunday, Sept. 5, at 4 p.m. (women’s balance beam, men’s vault) and 6 p.m. (women’s floor exercise, men’s parallel bars and horizontal bar).
The Pan American Championships, held every two years, includes 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.
2010 Pan American Championships
Guadalajara, Mexico
Sept. 3, 2010
Women’s team and all-around finals
Team
1. United States, 232.030
2. Canada, 213.463
3. Brazil, 212.994
All-around
1. Kyla Ross, USA, 57.998
2. Sabrina Vega, USA, 57.633
3. Jessica Lopez, Venezuela, 57.099