Daryl Homer’s silver medal performance headlines Local Athletes in Day 5

Charlie Riedel/Associated Press

A litany of local athletes participated in Day 5 of the Olympics, highlighted by Daryl Homer’s silver medal in fencing, as the northeast continues to impress in Rio.

Homer had some close calls on his way to the finals, including almost losing his first bound in the round of 32, only winning 15-11 over another fencer from Kazakhstan. Identical 15-12 scores in his round of 16 and quarterfinal match were more close calls, but he continued to chug on. Despite being ranked eighth in the world in that event, Homer still continued to surprise his way into the finals. Throughout the tournament, his athleticism seemed to shock most of his competitors, with Homer springing off the line quickly to score constant points.

Once there, he was blown away by world number two, Aron Szilagyi of Hungary, 15-8. He wasn’t ever really close in the bout, but his performance was surprising to the entire field, and he stole a silver medal away from a talented group. With this being his only event, the Bronx, NY native can come home happy, knowing that he fought as well as anyone could have hoped he would. He became the first American man to win a medal in saber since Peter Westbrook in 1984.

Elsewhere on the fencing mat, Nzingha Prescod, in the women’s individual foil, dropped her bid for an Olympic medal when she lost to France’s Astrid Guyart 14-11 in the round of 16. Prescod was ranked 18^th in the world, so losing a close bout to the eighth ranked saber fencer in the world wasn’t anything to sneeze at. Guyart would lose the next bout to the eventual gold medalist, Inna Deriglazova of Russia. This will be the end of Prescod’s Olympic journey, as she has nothing else left to participate in.

Colton Brown of Piscataway, NJ, participated in the 90kg judo competition, and was able to win his initial match, Iszlam Monier Suliman of Sudan, a match that he was expected to win in the round of 32. However, with only 16 competitors left, the 2014 NCAA champion, Brown wasn’t able to hold on. He lost to France’s Alexandre Iddir, finishing his trip to Rio.

Earlier in the day, Josh Richmond of Hillsgrove, Pennsylvania, participated in men’s double trap shooting. He entered as the top ranked men’s shooter in the event, making him the presumptive favorite to win gold. However, he placed in a three way tie for the sixth and final spot to make the semis, which required a shoot-off. He lost to Fehaid Aldeehani of the Independent Olympic Athletes in the shoot-off, by only one shot, 12-11. Aldeehani ended up winning gold, so if Richmond was able to squeeze out a victory in the preliminaries, he still would have been able to contend for a medal. That will be Richmond’s only event in Rio, so he will go home disappointed.

Meanwhile, in the pool, Cierra Runge made her Olympic debut in the preliminaries of the 4X200m freestyle relay race. Runge and Missy Franklin of Fair Haven gave the United States the top qualifying time going into the final by almost two seconds. In the finals, Katie Ledecky and company took home gold in dominating fashion, giving Runge and Franklin both gold medals for their efforts in the preliminaries. That is Runge’s only event in Rio, making her one for one, and Franklin will add the gold to her collection, and her first in Rio, and will also compete in the 200m backstroke on Thursday.

Hali Flickinger participated in the final of the 200m butterfly, but was unable to end the United States’ medal drought in that event. After a mediocre semifinal split, she wasn’t able to improve much more, finishing a disappointing seventh place. Teammate Cammile Adams had the best American finish, placing fourth. Flickinger of the University of Georgia might not be finished in the Olympics, although it isn’t certain yet. She could participate as the butterfly leg in the women’s medley relay, which will take place later on in the games. If not, she will come home only with her seventh place finish.

Elsewhere around the games, Thomas Dunstan of New Canaan, CT was part of a dominating and necessary win for the men’s water polo team. With a loss, the squad would’ve been eliminated, but a 6-3 win over France kept them alive, but they will still need a win against Montenegro to get a second win and make it to the quarterfinals. The men’s rugby team was eliminated from medal contention after a 24-19 loss to Fiji. They needed to keep the score within four points in order to advance, but they were unable to, dropping their record to 1-2 in the Olympics first competition of rugby sevens. Ryan Carlyle of West Nyack and Chris Wyles of Stamford were a part of the losing squad. Christa Dietzen of Hopewell, PA, was part of the women’s dominating three sets to one victory over Serbia in indoor volleyball.