RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, July 19. NORTH Americans from the United States and Canada grabbed each top qualifying spot up for grabs during the fourth night of preliminary action at the Pan American Games held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Men's 200 butterfly
The field did not come close to the Games record of 1:57.33 set by Michael Raab in 2003, but the results were exciting as less than a second separated first through seventh.
Canada's Stefan Hirniak topped qualifying with a 2:00.15, while American pair Eddie Erazo (2:00.22) and Pat Cary (2:00.27) finished just behind in second and third, respectively.
Brazil's Kaio Almeida (2:00.56), Canada's Adam Sioui (2:00.60), the Bahamas' Jeremy Knowles (2:00.60) and Mexico's Juan Jose Veloz Davila (2:00.71) all finished under 2:01.
Colombia's Omar Pinzon, however, claimed the eighth qualifying spot with a time of 2:02.11.
Women's 200 butterfly
The United States' duo of Courtney Kalisz and Kathleen Hersey paced the qualifying round with close times as Kalisz touched in 2:11.41 and Hersey clocked a second-place 2:11.62.
Mexico's Prisciliana Eugenia Escobar Torres had a close battle with Canada's Zsofia Balazs for third, as Torres posted a 2:15.20 while Balazs turned in a 2:15.40.
Argentina's Georgina Bardach (2:17.37) and Florencia Ghione (2:17.56), Mexico's Rita Medrano (2:19.04) and Brazil's Daiene Dias (2:19.58) comprised the rest of the top eight times.
Men's 200 breaststroke
American Scott Spann ruled the evening preliminary session by two seconds with a top time of 2:15.70, while teammate Chris Ash placed second in 2:17.89.
Brazil's Thiago Pereira, trying to add to his gold-medal trifecta, placed third in 2:18.58, while Argentina's Sergio Ferreyra placed fourth in 2:19.22.
Brazil's Henrique Barbosa finished fifth in 2:20.16, while Argentina's Cristian Soldano (2:20.41) and Canada's Mathieu Bois (2:20.60) took sixth and seventh, respectively.
Barbados' Bradley Ally completed the top eight with a 2:21.88 readout.
Women's 800 freestyle
With the quickest heat yet to come tomorrow morning, Mexico's Patricia Midori Castaneda Miyamoto clocked the fastest time of the first two heats in 8:38.92.
Two other swimmers went under the 9:00 mark as Venezuela's Andreina Pinto (8:46.67) and El Savador's Golda Marcus (8:57.17) stand in second and third heading into the final heat.
Men's 400 freestyle relay
The United States foursome of Gary Hall Jr., Alex Righi, Andy Grant and Ricky Berens won prelims by more than a second with a time of 3:18.19.
Hall posted a leadoff split of 50.46, before Righi went 49.76 and Grant touched in 49.07. Berens brought the relay home in 48.88.
Although second-place Brazil lead after the first leg with a 49.95 start from Fernando Silva, the Brazilians fell behind Righi as Nicholas Santos touched in 50.59 and never could recover. Thiago Pereira (49.89) and Eduardo Deboni (49.22) finished the 3:19.65 effort for the Brazilians.
Uruguay's quartet of Gabriel Melconian, Paul Kutscher Belgeri, Martin Kutscher Belgeri and Francisco Picasso placed third in 3:21.34.
Click here to view session results PDF file.