Conder, Hildebrandt claim gold medals at Pan American Games

LIMA, Peru -- Whitney Conder and Sarah Hildebrandt added to America's gold-medal count on Thursday at the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru.

Conder and Hildebrandt won gold medals at 50 kilograms and 53 kilograms respectively. The pair joins Greco-Roman wrestler Pat Smith as gold medalists for the United States after the second day of wrestling competition.

Jenna Burkert earned a silver medal at 57 kilograms.


Conder claimed her gold medal at 50 kilograms with a convincing 10-2 victory over Cuba's Yusneylis Guzman Lopez, a Pan American Championships gold medalist. It was her second Pan American Games gold medal, after winning in 2015.

The 31-year-old American picked up three first-period takedowns to go up 6-0 at the break. Guzman got on the board with a takedown in the second period, before Conder scored an exposure and then added a takedown to win by eight.

Conder picked up a pair of technical superiorities en route to reaching the finals. She outscored her opposition 30-2 on Thursday.

Hildebrandt, a returning world silver medalist, capped off a dominant performance in Lima with a first-period 10-0 technical superiority over Betzabeth Arguello Villegas of Venezuela in the finals at 53 kilograms. She did not surrender a point through the competition, outscoring her three opponents by a combined score of 28-0. Hildebrandt defeated Carolina Castillo Hidalgo of Colombia (8-0) and Kamila Barbosa of Brazil (10-0) in the first session.

Burkert was edged by Ecuador's Lissette Antes Castillo 2-1 in the gold-medal match at 57 kilograms. The three-time World Team member for the United States scored the first point of the match off the activity clock and took a 1-0 lead into the break. But Castillo battled back in the second period, scoring two consecutive steps outs to earn the victory. Burkert reached the finals with two technical superiorities, 10-0 and 11-0.

Adam Coon, America's lone Greco-Roman wrestler competing on Thursday, was shut out 8-0 in his first match to Yasmani Acosta Fernandez of Chile, eliminating the returning world silver medalist from the tournament. The United States Greco-Roman team finished the Pan American Games with one gold, one silver and two bronzes.