BEACH VOLLEYBALL
David Fischer (Venice, Calif.) and Brad Torsone (Redondo Beach, Calif.) won their last first-round game in beach volleyball, beating a pair from Trinidad and Tobago two sets to none. They will face an undefeated Canadian team in the quarterfinals Friday.

DIVING
Alexandre Despatie of Canada won his second gold medal, using his final dive to edge Mexico's Fernando Platas in 3-meter springboard. He trailed Platas by one point before the final dive and scored 683.19 points to Platas' 678.54. Troy Dumais of Ventura, Calif., won bronze.

Canada won the women's synchronized platform event.

EQUESTRIAN
The United States defended its team dressage championship, winning by .250 points over the Canadians. Jan Ebeling of Moorpark, Calif., rode Feliciano; Pierre St. Jacques of Boscawen, N.H. was on Lucky Tiger; Carol Lavell of Loxahatchee, Fla.; rode Much Ado; and Kristina Harrison-Naness of Burbank, Calif., was on Kantor.

Ebeling clinched it on the last ride of the two-day competition.

FENCING
The United States romped past Venezuela 45-30 for the men's saber gold. Ivan Lee of Brooklyn, N.Y.; Jason Rogers, Los Angeles; and Adam Crompton, Irvington, N.J., formed the team.

Cuba beat the United States for the women's epee team gold medal, 45-25. The U.S. squad of Stephanie Eim (New York), Elisabeth Spillman (Los Angeles), Kelley Hurley (San Antonio), and Erinn Smart (Brooklyn, N.Y.) upset Canada in the semifinals.

FIELD HOCKEY
Tracy Fuchs (Centereach, N.Y.) scored twice as the U.S. women defeated Canada 3-0 despite a second-half downpour.

HANDBALL
The U.S. women beat Uruguay 24-21 to earn a spot in the medals round. The team finished in third place after group play and will face Argentina in the semifinals. Brittane Martin (Marietta, Ga.), Dawn Lewis (Park City, Utah), Lisa Eagen (Oskaloosa, Iowa) and Edina Batar (Budapest, Hungary) scored five goals apiece.

The men's team lost to Brazil 34-20.

Game notes
RACQUETBALL

Jack Huczek (Rochester, Mich.) defeated Mexico's Gilberto Mejia in his final match of pool play to go undefeated and take the No. 2 position going into Friday's medal rounds. The Americans got their first loss of the tournament when Canada's Mike Green defeated Rocky Carson (Mission Viejo, Calif.).

The men's doubles team of Ruben Gonzalez (Staten Island, N.Y.) and Mike Guidry (Carrollton, Texas) rallied from behind to beat Ricardo Monroy and Santiago Canedo (Bolivia), 11-15, 15-9, 11-2.

The U.S. women won their respective pools. Cheryl Gudinas (Lisle, Ill.) defeated Carola Loma (Bolivia), 15-1, 15-1, to remain undefeated and secure the No. 1 position in the women's singles draw. Laura Fenton (Overland Park, Kan.) lost to Jennifer Saunders (Canada) 10-15, 15-0, 11-1. Fenton already had won her pool and secured the No. 3 position on Wednesday, so she merely had to show up for her match with Saunders.

The women's doubles team of Jackie Rice (Ramona, Calif.) and Kim Russell (Austin, Texas) beat Josee Grand Maitre and Julie Neubauer (Canada) 15-2, 15-11.

SHOOTING
Brandie Neal (Spencer, Ind.) made it five straight gold medals for the United States shotgun team with a victory in the women's skeet event.

In the 50-meter prone, Tom Tamas (Columbus, Ga.) won the gold and the Olympic quota slot for his country, shooting a score of 697.4. Although he led throughout the qualification rounds, Tamas felt a little off in the finals, shooting a 102.4. Ken Johnson (Crawfordville, Fla.) finished just two points off of Tamas' score, shooting a 695.4 for a bronze medal.

Five-time Olympian John McNally (Heath, Texas) finished third in rapid fire pistol, which was won by Leuris Pupo of Cuba.

SOFTBALL
Lori Harrigan (Las Vegas) threw an abbreviated perfect game as the women's softball squad beat the Bahamas 10-0 in five innings. The game was shortened by the international mercy rule. Harrigan struck out 10 of the 15 batters and allowed one ball to leave the infield. Lisa Fernandez (Long Beach, Calif.), Tairia Mims (Tucson, Ariz.) and Amanda Freed (Cypress, Calif.) homered for the Americans (3-0), who have not lost a game in Pan Ams competition since 1983.

Doug Gillis (Novi, Mich.) pitched a perfect game for the U.S. men as they blanked Mexico 4-0 in their opening match. All four American runs came in the bottom of the sixth inning, including a three-run homer by Mike Dryer (Excelsior Springs, Mo.).

TABLE TENNIS
Americans Jun Gao Chang (Gaithersburg, Md.) and Jasna Reed (Chicago) defeated a doubles pair from the Dominican Republic in the round of 16. Tawny Bahn (San Gabriel, Calif.) and Lily Yip (Warren, N.J.) defeated Brazil's Simone Fernandes and Carina Murashige 12-10, 11-4, 11-3, 11-6. Mark Hazinski (Mishawaka, Ind.) and Eric Owens (Houston) were eliminated from the men's doubles event following a 4-1 (11-8, 11-8, 10-12, 11-3, 11-6) loss to Cuba's Pavel Oxamendy and Boriz Roque.

TENNIS
Americans improved to 13-1 at the games as Alex Kim and Sarah Taylor each advanced with singles victories.

Taylor, of Bradenton, Fla., and the No. 1 seed in women's singles, defeated Vanina Garcia of Argentina 7-5, 6-4 to advance to the semifinals and clinch at least a bronze medal. Kim (Potomac, Md.) beat Marcio Carlsson of Brazil 6-2, 6-2 to advance to the quarterfinals of men's singles.

In first-round doubles, Carly Gullickson of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., and Ansley Cargill of Atlanta, lost to Kristina Brandi and Vilmarie Castellvi of Puerto Rico 6-3, 6-2.

Marcelo Rios of Chile, a former world No. 1 player, beat Jaime Cuellar of El Salvador 6-0, 6-3.

TRACK AND FIELD
In women's javelin, Kim Kreiner, who was not in a medal position before her last throw, broke her American record with a heave of 199 feet, 8 inches. That exceeded her previous mark by 7 inches and gave her the gold medal. She is the first American woman to win gold in Pan Ams javelin since 1975.

Sprinting sensation Allyson Felix, still a few months shy of her 18th birthday, cruised through her 200-meter semifinal in 22.9 seconds, setting the stage for Friday's run at the gold.

In the hammer throw, James Parker of Great Falls, Mont., won a silver medal, and John McEwen of North Canton, Ohio, got the bronze behind Argentina's Juan Ignacio Cerra.

Mary Jayne Harrelson of Blacksburg, Va., won the silver in the women's 1,500 meters. As clouds formed and lightning flashed in the distance, Anthony Famiglietti of Knoxville, Tenn., won the bronze in the 3,000 steeplechase. The rain arrived during the first few laps of the men's 10,000, in which Dan Browne of Portland, Ore., finished third.

VOLLEYBALL
The U.S. women's volleyball team defeated Venezuela 3-2 (25-18, 25-20, 20-25, 13-25, 15-10). In men's action, Brook Billings (Santa Barbara, Calif.) scored a match-high 18 points on 15 kills, two blocks and one service ace in the Americans' 25-18, 25-20, 20-25, 13-25, 15-10 victory over previously unbeaten Venezuela.

WATER POLO
The world champion U.S. women tied Canada 7-7 in their final match of the group stage. Natalie Golda of La Habra, Calif., scored three goals for the Americans. Both the Canadian team and the U.S. team finished the round 3-0-1, but Canada won the group on goal differential. The Americans will meet Brazil in Saturday's semifinal, and Canada will face Cuba. The U.S. team beat Brazil 9-4 Tuesday.

Tony Azevedo (Long Beach,Calif.) scored five times to lead the U.S. men's team to an 18-4 rout of Colombia. Azevedo was the second person to score five goals in a game here. The Americans have scored 102 goals in their six matches and have one more pool-play game left.

WRESTLING
The American freestyle team went 13-1 in two sessions. Eric Guerrero (Stillwater, Okla.), Cael Sanderson (Ames, Iowa), Joe Williams (Coralville, Iowa) , Stephen Abas (Fresno, Calif.), Kerry McCoy (Bethlehem, Pa.) all won twice. Daniel Cormier also won. McCoy, a heavyweight, pinned his first opponent in 19 seconds.

Jamill Kelly (Stillwater, Okla.) lost his match to Cuba's Serguei Rondon 7-6 in overtime, but kept his gold-medal hopes alive with a 5-4 win over Evan MacDonald of Canada as the Americans won four more in the second session.