BUFFALO, N.Y., July 27 /PRNewswire/ -- The Athletics events are
finishing up today in the final full day of competition at the 19th
Annual Empire States Games in Buffalo, N.Y.
    Among the winners in this morning's athletics competition was
Maurice Jackson of the Western Region in the scholastic men's 100 meter
dash.  He credits the coaching for Rochester's New York State dominance
in the event.  "I just had to try to get out of the blocks good and keep
my stride going.  It feels good to come out victorious and keep the 100
meter dash championship into our city's track club."  This was Jackson's
second medal in his first Empire State Games.
    Also taking place this morning were the finals in the 400 meter and
800 meter runs and New York City saw its taste of victory.  "I didn't
run my race but I knew I was going to win," said Gaffel Hippolyte of
Brooklyn, the winner of the open men's 400 meter dash.  Maxine Wynter,
also of Brooklyn, couldn't participate last year because of other
responsibilities.  But this year she found somebody that could watch her
son, allowing her to take home gold in the open women's 800 meter run.
    Kevin Collins from Cicero of the Central Region won gold in the open
men's 5,000 meter run, finishing in 14 minutes, 57.96 seconds.  Tim
Tuttle of Brewster in the Hudson Valley Region, Stacey Strothmann of
Angola here in the Western Region, and Jennifer Fazioli of Averill Park
of the Adirondack Region also won their respective 5,000 meter finals to
strike gold.  The open women's high jump finals went to Sharyn Slachetka
of Elma in the Western Region with a distance of 1.66 meters.  Two
scholastic women from Syracuse in the Central Region came home with gold
as Antonnik Owens won the triple jump and Nicole Thomas took the shot
put final.
    Baseball and volleyball are two sports who have gold medal games
set.  In scholastic men's baseball, Hudson Valley, which entered today's
play undefeated, and New York City, will go head-to-head.  Long Island
and the Western Regions will play in the volleyball final in both the
men's and women's scholastic divisions.  Both the men's and women's New
York City open teams are in their respective finals.  The men face the
Western Region, while the women battle Long Island.
    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).