Krueger, of Winter Garden, Fla., led the U.S. Water Ski Team with a climatic jump-off gold medal in the Men’s Jump event at the Pan American Games held at Isabela River Saturday.

Joining Krueger in the winner’s circle was his wife Karen Truelove of Winter Garden, Fla. (Women’s Slalom) and Regina Jaquess of Suwanee, Ga. (Women’s Tricks). Jaquess paced the U.S. contingent by winning three of its Pan Am Games-high eight water ski medals. The Americans added four silvers and a bronze to retain its power status in the sport in the Americas.

“I’m real happy for our team,” said coach Jack Travers. “We were hoping on nine medals and wound up with eight, which is one more than we had four years ago. It was a good competition for us.”

Krueger withdrew from the Men’s Slalom event early in the day because of an ailing stomach but came back strong in his specialty, winning the first jump-off of his career.

“The jump-off was exciting,” said Krueger. “I tried not to get wrapped up in the moment, but to just concentrate on keys. It was hard watching Jaret (Lellewellyn of Canada) go after me, but I had a good jump and would have been happy either way.”

Krueger jumped 218 feet on his second and last attempt in the jump-off. The Canadian fell two feet short of him in overtime after tying him at 220 feet during regulation.

Jaquess, a 19-year-old student at Louisiana-Monroe, added a silver medal in the Women’s Slalom and a bronze in the Women’s Jumps to her gold in the Tricks. She hoped her outstanding day would carry over to the future.

“It was really important for me to do well here. The next step for me is the Olympics, which I hope we can compete in one day,” said Jaquess. “My scores were just average, but I wanted to play it safe and smart. It was awesome I did as well as I did.”

Truelove set the tone early for the Americans, despite bad luck during her third pass in the Slalom.

“I hit something around the first buoy. I was a little worried because the judges aren’t going to believe you if you fall but luckily it didn’t have an effect. I was being as aggressive as I could. I’m really happy to medal,” Truelove said.

She had to wait until Jaquess performed to learn her finish. The Pan Am Games rookie made it into her fourth pass but fell at the third buoy and settled for the silver.

“I’m happy with it,” Jaquess said. “You always think you can do better but I’m just real pleased with the whole experience.”

After setting the Pan Am Games record in the Men’s Slalom during the prelims, Chris Parrish of Orlando, Fla. suffered from a mental mistake and was unable to medal. As the final performer in his group, he surprisingly went down early during his fourth pass and finished fifth.

“I was a little over anxious at the second ball and there was no reason for it,” said Parrish. “It wound up leaving me in the water.”

Despite equaling her Pan Am record jump of the day before, Rhoni Barton of Orlando, Fla., also expressed disappointment in her showing, which resulted in a pair of silver medals.

“I didn’t do what I should have done in the Jumps. I’ve beaten her (Karissa Wedd) every time this year. I should have gone further. I just didn’t go out there and do it,” said Barton.

Russell Gay of Winter Garden, Fla., also came close to a gold in the Men’s Tricks but wound up with the silver due to a mistake.

“I skied okay but I made a mental mistake and it cost me 800 points,” said Gay. “Maybe I was pushing too hard.” Gay was second to Llewellyn by just 100 points.

Second behind the Americans’ eight medals was Canada with five and Mexico was third with three.

Saturday’s final results:

Women’s Slalom – 1, Karen Truelove, Winter Garden, Fla., 59.0. 2, Regina Jaquess, Suwanee, Ga., 56.5. 3, Mariana Ramirez, Mexico, 56.25. 4, Maria Luisa Botero, Columbia, 50.5. 5, Breanne Wagner, Canada, 49.5. 6, Tiare Miranda, Chile, 49.00. 7, Natalia Hernandez, Columbia, 48.5. 8, Maria Vinuales, Argentina, 41.5.

Men’s Slalom – Drew Ross, Canada, 61.0. 2, Jorge Suarez, Mexico, 57.0. 3, Javier Julio, Argentina, 56.5. 4, Rodrigo Miranda, Chile, 56.0. 5, Chris Parrish, Orlando, Fla., 55.5. 6, Nicholaas Fuldauer, Brazil, 53.0. 7, Fernando Neves, Brazil, 45.0. 8, Freddy Krueger, Winter Garden, Fla., DNS.

Women’s Jump – 1, Karissa Wedd, Canada, 160. (new Pan Am record). 2, Rhoni Barton, Orlando, Fla., 157. 3, Regina Jaquess, Suwanee, Ga., 155. 4, Maria Luisa Boterro, Columbia, 143. 5, Breanne Wagner, Canada, 136. 6, Natalia Hernandez, Columbia, 120. 7, Tiare Miranda, Chile, 96.

Men’s Jump – 1, Freddy Krueger, Winter Garden, Fla., 220 (218). 2, Jaret Llewellyn, Canada, 220 (216). 3, Ryan Dodd, Canada, 210. 4, Javier Julio, Argentina, 198. 5, Rodrigo Miranda, Chile, 181. 6, Arturo Torres, Mexico, 174. 7, Esteban Siegert, Columbia, 151. 8, Francisco Miranda, Chile, DNS.

Women’s Tricks – 1, Regina Jaquess, Suwanee, Ga., 6,960 points. 2, Rhoni Barton, Orlando, Fla., 6,050. 3, Mariana Ramirez, Mexico, 5,760. 4, Maria Camilla, Columbia, 5,670. 5, Lorena Botana, Argentina, 5,410. 6, Tiare Miranda, Chile, 4,250. 7, Breanne Wagner, Canada, 2,910. 8, Aline Nelson, Mexico, 2,670.

Men’s Tricks – 1, Jaret Llewellyn, Canada, 10,360 points. 2, Russell Gay, Winter Garden, Fla., 10,260. 3, Jorge Ignacio, Argentina, 9,650. 4, Javier Julio, Argentina, 9,560. 5, Sergio Font, Mexico, 8,180. 6, Ryan Dodd, Canada, 8,110. 7, Freddy Krueger, Winter Garden, Fla., 6,870. 8, Rodrigo Miranda, Chile, 5,450.