Men's Rugby | 7/24/2015 4:39:00 PM

ELLENSBURG, Wash. (July 24) – Central Washington University men's rugby alumni Patrick Blair has accomplished a feat that only one other CWU athlete has done.  Blair was a member of USA Rugby's Pan American Games squad that earned a bronze medal at this year's Pan-Am Games in Toronto, Canada.
 
In addition he becomes the first CWU male to not only medal at the Pan-Am games, but no other male athlete has even competed in the event that began in 1951 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
 
Former women's basketball player and CWU Hall of Famer Catherine Benedetto was the schools first athlete to compete in the games back in 1967, playing in all eight of the USA's games, helping the team earn a silver medal.
 
Blair and the rest of the American sevens squad went 5-1 in the 2015 Pan-Am games losing a close fought battle to gold medal winner Canada in the semifinals.   The Americans outscored their opponents 223-45 and pitched three shutouts.  In a 52-0 win over Uruguay in the preliminary rounds, Blair found the try zone, his lone score of the games.
 
"The whole thing was surreal, it feels like you are in the Olympics almost," Blair said about his time in Toronto.  "We were only there for a week, I wish we could have stayed a bit longer, but I had a fantastic time."
 
Blair along with fellow CWU alum Aladdin Schirmer are competing for a spot on the USA Olympic sevens team that will travel to Rio De Janeiro, Brazil for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games.  2016 will mark the first year of rugby as an Olympic event.
 
"The opportunity to possibly participate in the Olympics is exciting and I can't quite put the feeling in words," Blair added. "I never imagined I would have this chance.  People grow up dreaming about this and for it to become a reality is beyond measure."