SANTIAGO, Chile – Odaine McPherson is upbeat in spite of his seventh-place finish in the men’s 100m final at the Pan American (Pan Am) Games on Tuesday evening.

McPherson ran a time of 10.44 seconds, but it was not enough to place him on the podium.

Instead, Jose Alnardo Gonzalez of the Dominican Republic took the gold in 10.30 seconds, Brazil’s Felipe Bardi took silver in 10.31s, and Guyana’s Emanuel Archibald earned the bronze, clocking 10.31s as well.

Archibald is McPherson’s teammate at the GC Foster College of Physical Education and Sport.

McPherson is pleased with the opportunity to run his first senior major final in spite of enduring cold night air of around 16 degrees Celsius.

“I think I did well, in spite of the weather, but I’m going to come back better,” he told the Jamaica Observer after the race.

Although he is pleased with his run, he found room for improvement but says his performance had nothing to do with being warned for an improper start with a yellow card.

“Nah it never affected me, none at all,” he said. “I just needed to stay up more and just finish, that’s it.”

McPherson’s campaign at the Pan Am Games is not done. He will compete in the men’s 4x100m relay semi-final. From there, he will turn his focus to preparing for next season, which features a bid to qualify for the Olympic Games in Paris next summer.

“It’s been a very good experience,” he said. “Now, I hope we can win the gold medal in the relay.

“When I get back to Jamaica, I’ll rest, stay focused, come back to training, and get ready for the Olympics.”

Four Jamaicans will be in action today.

Jaheel Hyde takes part in the men’s 400m hurdles semi-finals at 6:25 pm local time, 4:25 pm Jamaica time (Jt). Andrae Dacres competes in heat one of the men’s 200m semi-finals at 7:23 pm (5:23 pm Jt), and Michael Sharp is involved in heat two at 7:31 pm (5:31 Jt).

Omarie Mears is also in action in men’s wrestling but his start time had not been announced at press time.