LAKE PLACID, N.Y., March 2 /PRNewswire/ -- 19-year old Adam Heidt from
Lake Placid won his second medal in as many days at the National Luge
Championships, finishing the 2/3rds of a mile course in one minute, 20.627
seconds to repeat as champion in the Junior Nationals.  Heidt, who finished
third in Saturday's Senior Nationals, also won the Empire State Games Luge
gold medal in scholastic competition.  Today is the final day of competition
at the 17th-annual Empire State Games in Lake Placid.
    "Now for the summer I plan to get in shape again and hopefully do it again
next year," said Heidt, after winning in the season-ender for Luge
Competition.  "It means a lot to me," he added about also winning gold in the
Empire State Games.  "It's a good sized race."
    Matt McClain, who also resides in Lake Placid, came in second and
Christian Niccum of Woodinville, Washington took third in the Junior National
Event.  The two are teammates in U.S. Luge doubles competition.
    Maryann Baribault made it a clean-sweep in this weekend's luge women's
competition with a time in the Junior National event of 1:22.873 -- just five-
thousands of a second better than runner up Courtney Zablocki of Highlands
Ranch, Colorado.  "I had some difficulties at the top and the bottom of the
track.  I had to put my feet down a couple of times to catch myself.  I feel a
little lucky that I could hold on and win," said Baribault, who also won
Saturday's seniors competition.  Dorrie Martin of Denver, CO came in third.
    In other Empire State Games competition, Chris Soule of Connecticut took
the gold medal in the four-heat skeleton competition.  He was in second place
after Saturday's first two heats and his final time of four minutes, 3.05
seconds was good enough to edge Terry Holland of Pittsfield, MA by three-
tenths of a second in the final standings.  The leader after Saturday's
competition, Jim Shea of Lake Placid, won the bronze.
    "I just tried to put all my heats together as best as I could and tried to
go as fast as I could no matter the conditions and it wound up working out for
the best," said Soule, referring to the off-and-on driving rain falling during
today's action and throughout the morning.
    Six-year Empire State Games competitor Juleigh Walker of Wesport, NY won
gold in the skeleton women's competition.  "After six years of bashing the
wall and re-bending my sled back to straight I think I have finally gotten
through that fairly well this year," said Walker.
    The skeleton event takes place on the one-mile bobsled track on Mt. Van
Hoevenberg and at the finish line the course straightens out and doesn't
continue its curve, leaving some athletes banging into the wall -- in some
cases sparks may fly, adding a little excitement for the crowd.  When Walker
had a clean ending in her final heat, she was applauded by her other
competitors.
    The team of Don Santini, Justis Muthay, Eric Wilson and John Mulholland
won gold in the four-man bobsled.
    Andrew Martin won today's men's slalom with a total time of one-minute,
15.78 seconds after two heats on the 141 meter course at Whiteface Mountain.
Miguel Azcarate of Ellicottsville won the silver and Thomas Vonn, last year's
gold medalist, settled for the bronze.  Vonn, from Newburgh, won yesterday's
giant slalom competition.  Jen Kilgore of Marblehead, Massachusetts won the
women's slalom event with a time of 1:24.09.  Erika Viccarone and Kimberly
Ryan followed.
    A pair of locals won the scholastic competition in the nordic sprint 5,000
meter event.  Matt Dougherty of Saranac Lake finished with a time of 22
minutes, two seconds, while Arien Baker of Lake Placid won on the women's
side, finishing in
30:32.  Earl Steinbrecher Jr. of Newfield won the men's open event in 23:35,
and Rebecca Harman of Ithaca won in the ladies competition, clocking in at
30:57.  In masters, Gary Fancher of Binghamton took 23:36 to win his gold
medal, and Lisa Meissner of Tupperlake finished in 37:41 for the women's gold.
    In the cross country classical event, open men's competitor Douglas Diehl
of Bolton Landing followed up from his silver medal in Saturday's freestyle to
win gold today.  Open women skier Carol Fisher of Queensbury did likewise,
with a gold today and silver yesterday.  In scholastic competition, Anthony
David of Lima finished with a gold in both today's classical event and
yesterday's freestyle while Erin Graham from Mendon took gold today in the
women's classical event.  She also won a silver in freestyle.
    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."

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