The U.S. won four medals, including gold in the men's eight, on Thursday to highlight the final day of rowing competition at the 2007 Pan American Games at the Lagoa Rowing Center in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In addition to the men's eight, the women's quadruple sculls won silver, the lightweight men's four won silver and the men's quadruple sculls won bronze, giving the U.S. a total of 10 medals for the regatta.
The men's eight of coxswain Ned DelGuercio (Media, Pa.), Tyler Winklevoss (Greenwich, Conn.), Patrick O'Dunne (Nazareth, Pa.), Sebastian Bea (San Francisco, Calif.), Cameron Winklevoss (Greenwich, Conn.), Dan Beery (Oaktown, Ind.), Gabe Winkler (St. Johnsbury, Vt.), Chris Callaghan (Tualatin, Ore.) and Troy Kepper (Tallahassee, Fla.) dominated its competition in winning the gold medal. The crew grabbed a two-second lead in the first 500 meters of the race and continued to pull away from the field for a 10.89-second victory. The U.S. clocked a 6:22.47, followed by Brazil in a 6:33.36 and Argentina in a 6:39.03.
In the women's quadruple sculls, Margaret Matia (Burke, Va.), Sarah Trowbridge (Guilford, Conn.), Reilly Dampeer (Weston, Conn.) and Julie Nichols (Livermore, Calif.) won the silver medal behind Canada. Cuba led the race through the 1,000-meter mark before the U.S. took the lead going into the final 500 meters. However, Canada used a strong push in the final 250 meters to earn a 0.55-second victory. Canada crossed the finish line with a time of 7:42.62, followed by the U.S. in a 7:43.17. Argentina won the bronze medal in a 7:50.29, as Cuba dropped to fourth place.
The lightweight men's four of Simon Carcagno (Pennington, N.J.), Matt Smith (Woodbridge, Va.), Bjorn Larsen (Lake Stevens, Wash.) and Andrew Bolton (Old Lyme, Conn.) also won the silver medal behind Canada. In what was a four-way race for the medals, Canada clocked a 7:02.90 to finish 0.91 seconds ahead of the U.S. boat. Cuba finished an additional 0.74 seconds behind, with Brazil coming home 0.04 seconds later. The four crews' positioning changed several times during the race, with Brazil leading for first 1,000 meters. Canada and Cuba passed the Brazilians in the third quarter of the race to take over the top two spots. However, the U.S. crew rowed through Brazil and then Cuba in the final 500 meters to win the silver medal. The U.S. crew finished with a time of 7:03.81.
The men's quadruple sculls crew of Francis Cuddy (Amherst, N.H.), Deaglan McEachern (Portsmouth, N.H.), Jamie Schroeder (Wilmette, Ill.) and Warren Anderson (Paso Robles, Calif.) won the bronze medal, finishing 6.05 seconds behind the winners from Cuba. The U.S. boat took over the third spot during the second quarter of the race and maintained that position the rest of the way down the course. Cuba, which sat in second place for the first 1,000 meters, passed Argentina in the second half of the race to win the gold medal in a 6:43.60. Argentina held on to win the silver medal, finishing in a 6:47.74.