GUADALAJARA, Mexico, October 21. THE Pan American Games came to a close with a record-setting evening, featuring three Games records in four finales. Meanwhile, Brazil's Thiago Pereira cracked the top 10 in the world in the 200 back en route to his fourth gold medal.
Women's 50 free
USA's Lara Jackson raced to a Pan American Games record in the splash-and-dash with a time of 25.09. That swim beat the 25.14 set by Arlene Semeco back in 2007, and came up just short of Jackson's 17th-ranked season best of 24.98. Madison Kennedy took bronze to give Team USA a 1-3 finish after clocking a 25.24. Brazil's Graciele Herrmann snagged silver in 25.23.
Puerto Rico's Vanessa Garcia (25.39), Semeco (25.57), Brazil's Flavia Delaroli-Cazziolato (25.94), Argentina's Nadia Colovini (26.08) and Canada's Jennifer Beckberger (26.12) rounded out the top eight.
Men's 200 back
Brazil's Thiago Pereira smashed his Pan American Games record in the distance dorsal with a 1:57.19. That performance demolished his 1:58.42 set back in 2007, and pushed Pereira to ninth in the world this year. The win was Pereira's fourth individual victory (100 back, 200 IM, 400 IM) of the week. Colombia's Omar Pinzon finished second in 1:58.31, also under the previous Games record, while USA's Ryan Murphy placed third in 1:58.50.
USA's Rex Tullius (1:59.23), Brazil's Leonardo De Deus (2:03.28), Venezuela's Luis Rojas (2:06.07), Mexico's Ezequiel Trujillo (2:06.18) and Cuba's Pedro Luis Medel (2:13.77) finished fourth through eighth.
Women's 400 medley relay
The Stars and Stripes's Rachel Bootsma, Annie Chandler, Claire Donahue and Amanda Kendall blasted the Games record in the medley relay with a 4:01.00 for the win. That performance cut more than three seconds off the 4:04.52 set by the U.S. during prelims. Bootsma, the reigning Swimming World High School Female Co-Swimmer of the Year, clocked a swift 1:00.46 backstroke leadoff.
Canada's Gabrielle Soucisse, Ashley McGregor, Erin Miller and Jennifer Beckberger took a distant silver in 4:07.04, while Brazil's Fabiola Molina, Tatiane Sakemi, Daynara De Paula and Tatiana Barbosa earned bronze in 4:07.12.
Mexico (4:09.41), Argentina (4:16.18), Bahamas (4:16.97), Venezuela (4:18.76) and Puerto Rico (4:23.16) also swam in the finale.
Men's 400 medley relay
Brazil's Guilherme Guido, Felipe Franca, Gabriel Mangabeira and Cesar Cielo just missed the Games record with a time of 3:34.58. That time came up short of the 3:34.37 set by the U.S. back in 2007. Cielo posted a strong 47.28 anchor leg to clinch the win.
USA's Eugene Godsoe, Marcus Titus, Chris Brady and Scot Robison took second in 3:37.17, while Argentina's Federico Grabach, Lucas Peralta, Marcos Barale and Lucas Del Piccolo claimed bronze in 3:44.51.
Mexico (3:45.28), Paraguay (3:45.78), Cuba (3:46.48), Venezuela (3:47.88) and Canada (3:51.61) placed fourth through eighth.