Grain Valley gymnast Kara Eaker takes home Pan Am Games gold for Team USA in Peru
Kara Eaker, slated to return to Kansas City next week for the USA Gymnastics National Championships, added to her growing resume of accomplishments Wednesday.
The Grain Valley native won a gold medal on the balance beam and silver in floor exercise at the 2019 Pan American Games at the Polideportivo Villa El Salvador in Lima, Peru.
She claimed the balance beam gold handily, scoring a 15.266. In the floor exercise, Eaker registered a 13.800 for second, just 0.100 points behind Canada’s Brooklyn Moors’ first-place 13.800.
“It’s definitely exciting to be here and experience this with other people,” Eaker, 16, said of her Pan Am Games experience in a release posted on the Team USA website.
Earlier in the Pan Am Games, the U.S. women and men won the team gold and silver medals, respectively, while New Jersey native Riley McCusker and Eaker secured the silver and bronze, respectively, in the women’s all-around.
McCusker won the uneven bars title, and Leanne Wong, from Overland Park, grabbed the bronze.
Eaker, an incoming junior at Grain Valley High School, is a 2018 world championships team champion and a 2018 U.S. balance beam silver medalist.
Reigning Gymnix International vault champion Aleah Finnegan, from Lee’s Summit, withdrew from the vault final on Tuesday due to injury.
Eaker, Wong and Finnegan will represent the area at next week’s USA Gymnastics National Championships, which begin Thursday, Aug. 8 at Sprint Center and wrap up on Sunday, Aug. 11.
Also competing in KC will be 2016 Olympic and 2018 world all-around champion Simone Biles, who is trying to become the first woman in nearly 70 years to win six senior U.S. all-around titles.
Here’s the schedule for next week’s national championships:
Thursday, Aug. 8: men’s gymnastics – 1 p.m., juniors, and 6:30 p.m., seniors
Friday, Aug. 9: women’s gymnastics – 1 p.m., juniors, and 6:30 p.m., seniors
Saturday, Aug. 10: men’s gymnastics – 1 p.m., juniors, and 6:30 p.m., seniors
Sunday, Aug. 11: women’s gymnastics – 1 p.m., juniors, and 6:30 p.m., seniors
This story was originally published August 1, 2019 at 12:18 PM.