PAN AM GAMES Raab leads U.S. swimmers to medals

He broke the record twice in the 200-meter butterfly event.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) -- Michael Raab liked setting a Pan American Games swimming record so much in the morning, he did it again Friday night.
Raab, of Rockville, Md., led the imposing U.S. team on another big night in the pool. The Americans won four races, including Raab's 200-meter butterfly triumph in a personal-best 1 minute, 57.33 seconds.
That beat his record time in the preliminaries of 1:57.54.
"A lot of people are bagging the morning swim," he said. "I looked at the race analysis, I adjusted my strategy a little bit and dropped a couple tenths."
Marshall wins backstroke
Peter Marshall of Atlanta took the 100 backstroke ahead of George Bovell of Trinidad and Tobago, who swims for Auburn, and Jayme Cramer of Cincinnati.
Morgan Hentzen of La Habra Heights, Calif., and Rachel Burke, Bethesda, Md., went 1-2 in the women's 800 freestyle, a race never in doubt from the outset. There were no prelims for the event because of the high temperature in the pool, which didn't bother the Americans.
Then the U.S. women took the 400-meter medley relay by nearly eight seconds over Canada, setting a Pan Ams mark of 4:05.92.
Dianna MacManus, Staciana Stitts, Dana Vollmer and Amanda Weir had open water after the first leg.
"We want to dominate," said women's coach Bill Rose. "But we want to dominate in a classy way."
The men's 50 freestyle was won by Fernando Sherer of Brazil, with Miami's Gary Hall finishing third. Canada's Joanne Malar edged two Americans -- Corrie Clark of Malvern, Pa., and Laura Davis of Concord, Calif. -- in the 200 individual medley.
Archery champion
Vic Wunderle beat countryman Guy Krueger 109-106 in the men's archery final after twice setting games records in earlier rounds. It was the fifth Pan Ams gold medal for Wunderle, of Mason City, Ill. The top-seeded Wunderle established the record in the 12-arrow portion of the event with 111 points in beating Hugh MacDonald of Canada, then scored 112 when he defeated Glenn Meyers of Grand Rapids, Mich., in the semifinals.
"I'm ecstatic because our team shot really well and we finished in first, second and third like we hoped we would," Wunderle said.
Although Meyers won his bronze medal match with El Salvador's Cristobal Merlos, he was not allowed to collect the medal. Games rules prohibit a sweep of medals by one country.
"I feel bad Glenn didn't get his medal," Wunderle said, "but we all know he shot well and earned it."
Earning gold on the mat was taekwondo Olympic champion Steven Lopez of Houston in his first international competition in a new weight class.
Lopez, gold medalist at Sydney in the 68-kilogram division, won here as a welterweight (80 kilos). In his four matches Friday, he outscored opponents 28-6, including defending Olympic welterweight champion Angel Volodia Matos of Cuba, who fell 4-1.
"It was more of a marker that Steven Lopez is here and is here to stay at this weight class," he said of his victory.
In his semifinal bout against Eddy Luna of the Dominican Republic, Lopez ran up the score in an attempt to silence the loud crowd.
"Against the Dominican, I had fun because I wanted the crowd to shut up," he said. "I did a lot of work. I used up a lot of my gas for that match."
Championship match
In the final against Mexico's Jose Luis Ramirez, there was little action in the first round, as Lopez conserved energy in the stifling Pabellon de Combate. Tied 1-1 after the first round, Lopez scored twice on quick kicks to Ramirez's side in the last minute of Round 2. His lead got as big as 5-1 in the third round before ending up 5-3.
"I knew what he had," Lopez said of Ramirez, who he beat in the 2001 world championships. "So I was very calm."
Simona Hradil, also from Houston, shared the women's welterweight bronze after losing 5-4 to Yaneth Leal of Venezuela in the semifinals. Leal beat Vanina Sanchez of Argentina for the gold.
Rami Zur of Chula Vista, Calif., shook off Thursday's disqualification in the 500 meters and earned a bronze medal in the one-man kayak 1,000 behind Javier Correa of Argentina and Sebastian Cuattrin of Brazil.