BUFFALO, N.Y., July 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Brooke Davey from Hopewell
Junction broke an Empire State Games record as she won gold in the 50
meter scholastic women freestyle swimming event at Alumni Arena on the
Campus of the University of Buffalo.  This was one of the highlights in
the second evening of swimming final meets and the second full day of
competition at the 19th annual ESG.
    "I knew the record beforehand, so that was what I was shooting for,"
said the 16-year-old from the Hudson Valley region.  Davey finished with
a time of 26.69 seconds, besting the 27.07 mark by Anne Marie Wozniak 10
years ago.  To Davey's recollection, she has now eight golds and one
silver medal in her Empire State Games career, which she also
participated in two years ago.
    Jason Landrio from Sayville, Joy Knerr from Walkill and John Nilles
from New York City also won their respective 50 meter final events.
Katie Lesczinski from Rochester, Bruce Derrick from Liverpool, Kelly
Northrup of Victor and Joseph Peresan of Lancaster came out on top in
their 400 meter individual medley races.
    Men's basketball is taking place in downtown Buffalo at The Aud, the
former home of the NHL's Buffalo Sabres.  In scholastic play, both the
New York City and Central Regions are 2-0 after posting wins today.
"We played two different games.  We played a careless, flat first
half... We came back, our defense and our rebounding won the game in the
second half," said coach Donald Kent of Brooklyn after his New York City
team defeated the Adirondack Region, 82-62.  "We were down after we came
out flat in the first half," said Kenneth Harley, who led his team with
10 field goals and 26 points.  "That's all anybody is talking about," he
added, talking about his team's quest for a gold medal. Once done with
high school, the Bronx native is hopeful at playing Division I college
basketball at such high profile schools as UConn, Clemson or South
Carolina.
    Center Drew Samuels from Queens Village finished with 21 points and
says he has aspirations of playing his college ball at Boston University
or Manhattan College, to name a few.
    In open play, St. John's University's Felipe Lopez scored 15 of his
game-high 25 points in the second half to help his team overcome a two-
point halftime deficit and the New York City team defeated Adirondack,
87-78.  New York City currently leads the field with a 2-0 mark.
    In other events, Carrie Gorton from Roscoe of the Hudson Valley
Region won her fourth straight gold medal in the women's open Javelin.
Her distance of 50.72 meters also sets a record, beating her own mark of
44.78 meters she set last year.  Also, David Wiltey teamed with three
rowers to win his second straight gold in the kayak quad 1,000 meter
final.  Long Island came away with medals in both of bowling events that
took place.  The team took both the bronze and silver medals in the
mixed doubles, while it took gold in the team final, behind Linda
Diorio's high game of 267.
    The New York Lottery is the primary sponsor of the 1996 Empire State
Games.  The games are a natural extension of the Lottery's educational
sponsorship, which last year raised more than $1.5 billion in support of
primary and secondary public schools throughout New York.
    The schedule and updates of the events are available at the Empire
State Games World Wide Web Site (http://www.empiregames.org).