BUFFALO, N.Y., July 27 /PRNewswire/ -- The host Western Region is
leading in gold and overall medals after two days of competition at the
19th annual Empire State Games in Buffalo.  The Western team has 60 gold
medals and 193 medals overall. The Long Island region is in second place
in gold medals with 45, but the Hudson Valley team has more overall
medals -- 113.

    The standings are as follows:

    REGION             Gold      Silver    Bronze    Total
    Western             60         80        53       193
    Hudson Valley       38         42        33       113
    Long Island         45         24        26        95
    New York City       27         22        42        91
    Central             25         25        38        88
    Adirondack          28         23        26        77

    The Western Region has also been dominant in the volleyball
competition with three of its teams to play in the gold medal
competition.  A comeback by the New York City women's open team, from
two games down in the best three-of-five set semifinal match against the
Western team, spoiled the Western Region's possibilities of a gold medal
sweep in all volleyball competition.  It was a disappointing loss for
the host team after going 9-0 in yesterday's first day of preliminary
competition.
    The Long Island and Western Regions will face off in both the
scholastic women and men's gold medal matches.  The Long Island
scholastic men won last year's gold, while the Western women will be
looking for their eighth straight title.
    The defending champion Western Region open men will face New York
City.  The upset minded New York City open women's team will battle Long
Island, last year's winner.
    The standings after two days of basketball sees the New York City
open men, led by St. John's Felipe Lopez, leading the field at 2-0.
Perhaps the game of the day was when Long Island defeated Western
119-115 in overtime.  Ryan Blackwell of Rochester scored a tournament
high 35 points in a losing cause.  The Hudson Valley team leads the
women's open standings after winning its first two games.
    The Western Region had its 19-game ESG winning streak end in ice
hockey competition when it lost to Long Island, 3-2.  The Long Island
and Central Regions each lead the standings with 2-0 records.  A moral
victory was accomplished by the New York City ice hockey team when it
tied Hudson Valley, 5-5.  The tie gave New York just its second point in
ESG history.  New York tied Long Island, 3-3, in the 1994 games in
Syracuse.
    The most lopsided Lacrosse match of the day was Long Island routing
New York City, 23-0.  Jamie Sharpe of Port Jefferson Station scored six
goals and Steven McTigue of Bethpage had one goal and six assists.  As
is Long Island, the Central Region is also 2-0 after Geoff Gorman of
Manlius scored three goals in a win over host Western.
    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).