“We’re testing out how we prepped for (Pan Am Games) and I think (Friday) was like a trial run for us”, she said. “He didn’t let me take the attack”.
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There were also three United States victories, for Nicholas Thomas over 100m backstroke, Katie Meili in the 100m breaststroke and Josh Schneider in the concluding 50m freestyle, but it was the win for Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace in the women’s 50m freestyle which broke the script.
There was talk of returning to Victoria to say goodbye in person, but Bennett wouldn’t hear of it. “He was pissed that we would even consider coming home”, Cochrane recalls.
Hugo Barrette of Cap-aux-Meules, Que., advanced to the men’s sprint semifinals by winning his quarter-final heat but Joseph Volce of Fonthill, Ont., lost his to Trinidad and Tobago’s Phillip Njisane and eventually finished sixth.
Approaching the midway point of the Pan American Games, Canada’s impressive gold rush has thus far been mined overwhelmingly by women.
In women’s wrestling, Genevieve Morrison won gold in the freestyle 48 kilogram division, beating Peru’s Thalia Mallqui.
Overholt had just finished an interview with CBC’s poolside reporter David Amber, receiving congratulations on her new Canadian and Pan Am Games records, when Swimming Canada communications manager Nathan White lightly tapped her on the shoulder and directed her attention to the scoreboard, which now listed her not at the top as the gold medal victor but at the bottom, disqualified.
Swimming Canada appealed the disqualification, but it was upheld by officials.
The Canadian women’s squash team didn’t fare as well as its track cycling counterparts, settling for silver with a loss to the Americans.
Canada’s men’s baseball team suffered its first loss of the tournament, falling 4-1 to the U.S.in the final preliminary game. The Canadians close out round-robin action with a game against the US on Friday.
In men’s golf, Canadian Austin Connelly was tied for fourth after shooting a 2-under 70 in the first round.
While Connelly is focused on a professional career, fellow Canadian Garrett Rank’s future is likely to be more rinks than links.
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Cochrane’s performance brought to 15 medals, including 11 golds, won in events across several sports featuring Island-based athletes over the first seven days of competition in the Games. “I’ve got my work cut out, but all that means is getting in some LPGA events and putting some results on the board and I am quite capable of doing that”. Overholt gave Canada the lead, but her team was overtaken by the United States and Brazil. It was a different story for Canada’s women’s soccer team.
