With the USA sweeping the women’s gold medals, it marked the first time that a country other than Canada took home the titles of Pan American Games champion. The men also wrote a page in the history book by claiming their first individual medal, a bronze that went to Preston Quick (Denver, Colo.).

Leading the charge for the USA was Latasha Khan (Seattle, Wash.). The tournament’s No. 1 seed, she squared off in the individual gold medal match against two-time defending champion Melanie Jans of Canada. When Khan emerged with a four-game victory, she had more to celebrate than the gold medal.

“We’ve been playing each other for 14 years, and this is the first time I’ve defeated Melanie,” Khan said. “Usually I end up losing in five games. Getting the gold medal is a bonus, but I’m as excited about getting that monkey off my back.”

As the week of competition progressed, the team of Khan, No. 2 Louisa Hall (Philadelphia, Pa.) and No. 3 Meredith Quick (Denver, Colo.) bonded and developed a chemistry that served them well in the team final. For the third consecutive Pan American Games, they would face Canada with title on the line.

Based on competition order, Quick led off and found herself trailing by two games. She responded in heroic fashion, winning the next three games to give the USA a 1-0 advantage as Khan and Jans returned to the glass court for a rematch, this time with the team gold on the line. After splitting the first two games, Jans exploded to a 9-1 runaway win in the third, putting Khan’s back against the wall. She answered in champion’s form, shutting out Jans in the fourth game and allowing her only four points in the fifth to wrest the gold away from Canada.

For the men, Preston Quick posted a stunning upset victory over Jorge Gutierrez of Argentina to advance to become the first American male to advance to the Pan Am Games semifinals. Assured of the bronze with his semifinal placement, Quick withdrew from the individual competition to rest an ankle injured during the Gutierrez match. Although he was able to bounce back, it wasn’t enough. The USA’s team medal hopes were dashed with opening day losses to Canada and Brazil, who ended up taking the gold and silver, respectively. Joining Quick on the men’s roster were Damian Walker (Stamford, Conn.) and Tim Wyant (Cincinnati, Ohio). They won their next four matches to take fifth place, matching their tournament seeding.

Final Results

Women’s Individual

Gold - Latasha Khan, Seattle, Wash.

Silver – Melanie Jans, Canada

Bronze – Marnie Baizley, Canada, and Samantha Teran, Mexico

Louisa Hall, Philadelphia, Pa., eliminated in the first round.

Meredith Quick, Denver, Colo., wins plate tournament

Women’s Team

Gold – United States (Hall, Khan, Quick)

Silver – Canada (Jans, Baizley, Carolyn Russell)

Bronze – Brazil (Karen Redfern, Flavia Roberts, Patricia Pamplona) and Mexico (Diana Huerta, Teresa Osorio, Samantha Teran)

Men’s Individual

Gold – Shahier Razik, Canada

Silver – Graham Ryding, Canada

Bronze – Preston Quick, Denver, Colo., and Rafael Alarcon, Brazil

Damian Walker, Stamford, Conn., eliminated in quarterfinals.

Tim Wyant, Cincinnati, Ohio, eliminated in plate semifinals.

Men’s Team

Gold – Canada (Viktor Berg, Shahier Razik, Graham Ryding)

Silver – Brazil (Rafael Alarcon, Luciano Barbosa, Ronivaldo Conceicao)

Bronze – Argentina (Jorge Gutierrez, Robertino Pezzota, Rodrigo Pezzota) and Mexico (Jorge Baltazar, Marcos Mendez, Armando Zarazua)

5. United States (Quick, Walker, Wyant)