The rivalry in the pool at the Pan American Games was a washout Tuesday as the United States won four of five gold medals to leave Brazil in its wake. Julia Smit, Arthur Frayler, Sean Mahoney and the women's 4x200-meter freestyle relay team all won races to give the Americans 12 gold medals in swimming through four days of competition. Brazil, the biggest US challenger for pool supremacy with six gold, failed to win a race on the daily program for the first time at this year's games. Smit won the 200 individual medley, defending her title from four years ago and adding another gold to her win in the 400 IM. A short time later, Frayler and Ryan Feeley finished 1-2 in the men's 1,500 freestyle, and then Mahoney and Clark Burckle did the same in the 200 breaststroke. In the last event of the night, Catherine Breed, Elizabeth Pelton, Chelsea Nauta and Amanda Kendall combined to win the relay. Both Mahoney and the 4x200 team won their races in Pan American Games record times. The burst in the pool extended the American lead at the top of the medal standings. The United States has won 24 gold and 63 overall, while Brazil is next with 10 gold and 30 overall. Americans or Brazilians had won every swimming race at this year's games, but that changed Tuesday when a pair of brothers from the Cayman Islands swept the top two places in the 200 freestyle. Brett and Shaune Fraser are both products of the University of Florida, and both competed at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Benjamin Hockin earned bronze in that race, winning the first Pan American Games swimming medal for Paraguay and shutting out the Americans for only the second time in Guadalajara. Hockin, who has an English father and a Paraguayan mother, was born in Colombia but competed for Britain at the 2008 Olympics before switching nationalities to Paraguay last year. Thiago Pereira, Brazil's top swimmer, had been looking for his fourth gold medal in the pool, but had to settle with a bronze in the 200 breaststroke. Pereira won the 400 individual medley and swam in the preliminaries of the 4x100 freestyle relay to earn two golds. He added a third on Monday in the 100 backstroke. The host Mexicans also had another good day, winning two rowing titles and another rhythmic gymnastics gold. Canada and Cuba also added three each to their tallies. But the United States was the star team of the day. Besides the swimming haul, Americans won a pair of rowing golds and another shooting title, while Julie Zetlin won her third title of the games by taking the ribbon event in rhythmic gymnastics.
