USA wins two gold, three silver at PAGU Individual Event Championships

ROSARIO, ARGENTINA (November 23, 2008) The USA won two gold and three silver medals on the first day of the individual event finals at the 2008 Pan American Gymnastics Union Individual Event Championships in Rosario, Argentina. The U.S. women took the top two spots in both the uneven bars and vault: Samantha Shapiro of Los Angeles/All Olympia Gymnastics Center took first on the uneven bars, and Corrie Lothrop of Danvers, Mass./Hill’s Gymnastics, won the title on vault, as well as the bars silver. Olivia Courtney of Orlando, Fla./Orlando Metro, was second on vault, and Danell Leyva of Miami, Fla./Universal Gymnastics, finished second on pommel horse. The finals in women’s balance beam and floor exercise and men’s vault, parallel bars and horizontal bar will be held Nov. 23.

For the uneven bars, Shapiro won the gold medal with a 15.425, and Lothrop’s 14.350 put her in second. Lothrop took top honors on vault with a 14.375. Courtney was second on vault at 14.313.

For the men, Leyva’s 14.550 on pommel horse earned him second place. Glen Ishino of Santa Ana, Calif./SCATS-HB, finished fifth on pommel horse with a 13.900. Leyva also placed sixth on the floor exercise with a 13.075.