LAKE PLACID, N.Y., March 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Former Empire State Games
competitor Robert Pipkins won his fourth straight National Luge championship,
finishing with a two-heat time of one-minute, 17.208 seconds on a relatively
slow course at Mt. Van Hoevenberg in Lake Placid.  Current ESG competitors
Larry Dolan and Adam Heidt came in second and third, respectively.
    Pipkins, who grew up in Staten Island, was tied for third after the first
heat, partially because they moved the beginning of the race to the Ladies
Start from the more difficult Men's Start due to track conditions.  "In the
first run I was kind of driving like I do from Men's Start so I was kind of
overdoing anything, so on the second run I just decided to let it go a little
bit," said the 24-year old two-time Olympian, who broke a Lake Placid track
record during the 1992 Olympic trials.  "Since 1992, I've only lost two races
here and this wasn't going to be the third."
    The 24-year old Pipkins has been luging for the last 10 years and the
victory here in the second race of the 1998 Olympic trials helps in what he
had called a down year for him.  "The year hasn't gone all that well but at
least I can end on an up note.  What I need to do is look back over the last
10 years and put it all together."
    Dolan, from Morrisonville, is a two-time silver medalist from the 1995
World Junior Championships.  "It was kind of like being in juniors all over
again," said Dolan, commenting on the race beginning from Ladies Start, 2/3rds
of a mile away from the finish line.  "We had some difficulties with the track
but it all kind of came together."
    Heidt hails from Lake Placid and was last year's Junior National Champion.
He also finished in the top three for the second straight year in the senior
event after finishing in second place last year.
    18-year old Maryann Baribault was the ladies winner with a time of
1:17.695.  "I picked my head up and looked a little more than I normally do
just to make sure I was holding on to my handles ready to react quicker," said
the La Canada, California native, who will be attending Stanford University
this spring.  Baribault is a three-time National Junior Champion and two-time
World Junior Champion.
    The Empire State Games, taking place in Lake Placid this weekend, is a
part of this year's National Luge Championships.  Eight sports are featured in
the 17th-annual ESG.
    In figure skating, Karen Wailand of West Seneca has followed up her medal
from last year with gold in the senior ladies competition.  "I'm just really
proud to be a senior lady.  You start from the bottom and work your way up."
The 19-year old Wailand, who's younger sister is also a competitor at the ESG,
has been skating for 10 years and won bronze in ESG junior competition last
year.  She is currently attending Canisius College in Buffalo.
    Alexandra Munteanu of Cortland won her second gold medal in as many days,
winning the giant slalom event.  Munteanu repeated as medalist in this event
from a year ago and won gold in yesterday's downhill.  Jen Kilgore and Melissa
Hult followed.  Sarah Murray came in fourth after bronzing in Friday's
downhill.  On the men's side, Thomas Vonn of Newburgh continued his dominance
in slalom events with a gold.  He won in both the giant slalom and slalom last
year.  Andrew Martin and Todd Simones came in second and third respectively.
Friday's downhill winner, Coley Cole, finished fourth.
    Daniel Fish of Ithaca was the gold-medal winner in the 10-kilometer
freestyle cross country event.  His time of 32 minutes and two seconds beat
silver medalist Douglas Diehl of Bolton Landing by just three seconds.  Diehl
took gold in cross country competition last year.  Kris Seymour of Lake Placid
took the bronze.  Heidi Underwood of Kattskill Bay won the open women event
with a time of 37:40.  Carol Fisher of  Queensbury finished second followed by
Amelia Henry of Ithaca.  In scholastic competition, where the athletes ran
five kilometers, Anthony David of Lima finished in 14:20.  Paul Gorbold of
Pittsford and Tim Burke of Paul Smiths were second and third respectively.
Melissa Oram's time of 16:21 was good enough for gold in the women's
scholastic race.  Erin Graham of Mendon and Julia Kameron of Bardonia
followed.
    The team of Todd Bergey, Russ Myer and Lincoln Francher came out on top in
today's men's biathlon relay.  The sport combines cross-country skiing with
target shooting.  Bergey, from Bechtelsville, PA, made all of his target shots
to follow up from his silver-medal performance in Friday's individual
competition.
    The New York Lottery is the primary sponsor of the 1997 Empire State
Winter Games.  "The Games serve New York's young people by providing education
through athletics, teaching them dedication, motivation and aspiration to
achieve their goals," says Lottery director Jeff Perlee.  "The Lottery is
happy to sponsor the Empire State Games and salutes all athletes for their
commitment to excellence."