U.S. gymnasts continued to be the big story of the Pan American Championships Saturday, winning three of the five gold medals awarded during the first day of event finals in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Top pommel horse qualifier Glen Ishino of the U.S. hit his routine to win his second gold and third medal of the championship. Ishino also won a silver medal in Thursday's men's all-around competition. Jorge Pena of Colombia was second (14.775), followed by Canadian Casey Sandy, competing for the first time in 2010 after being sidelined by injury all last year (14.65).
Mexico's Santiago Lopez was the surprise winner on floor, besting Chilean World floor finalist Enrique Gonzalez 15.125-15.075 after Gonzalez incurred 0.3 in neutral deductions during his routine. The U.S.'s Jake Dalton, a sophomore at the University of Oklahoma, finished third (15.05), winning bronze over Puerto Rico's Angel Ramos by 0.075.
Ishino, the only other gymnast besides Lopez to post an execution score in the nines on floor, finished sixth due to his comparatively low start value on the event (5.9 D-score, 14.9 total).
Venezuela's Regulo Carmona won rings (15.575) over Puerto Rico's Tommy Ramos (15.225) and Argentinean Federico Molinari (15.1). Carmona, who also had the highest score on rings in the preliminary round, carries a whopping 6.8 start value on the event, the same as reigning World rings champion Yang Mingyong. The U.S.'s Wes Haagensen was fourth (14.925).
On the women's side, fourteen-year-old McKayla Maroney, who competes for All Olympia Gymnastics Center in California, landed her super difficult Amanar vault (6.5 D-score, 9.375 E-score, 15.387 average) to beat Brazil's Daniele Hypolito (14.425 average) and Colombia's Jessica Gil (14.125 average).
Canadian champion Kristina Vaculik finished fourth (14.1 average). The top four on vault each had execution scores of 9.0 or better on each attempt.
The vault final also included 2009 World vault finalist Elsa Garcia of Mexico, who finished sixth after falling on her second attempt, and Venezuela's Jessica Lopez, who fell attempting a Yurchenko 1.5 (13.25 for eighth).
The U.S.'s Gabrielle Douglas, 14, won her first major individual title on bars, finishing above Lopez and Vaculik. Douglas scored 14.225 (5.4/8.825) to edge Lopez, who had a slightly higher execution score but trailed by a tenth in difficulty (14.15/5.3/8.85). Vaculik had the highest difficulty of the top three (5.6) but the lowest execution score (8.475, total 14.075).
Related: Results from the first day of event finals at the Pan American Championships
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