The 26th New York Empire State Games will be held July 23-27 in Buffalo and 30 different athletes will represent western Monroe County and eastern Orleans County in 12 different sports.

Spencerport's Zach Grobengeiser will compete in the 50-meter and 100-meter freestyle swimming events. He will be trying to collect a gold medal after gaining a silver last year in the Open Men's 50-meter race and fourth in the 100-meter. Brockport's Kevin Kerwin will compete in the Open Men's 200-meter fly, Spencerport's Angie Schoeneman enters the Open Women's 100-meter breaststroke and Brockport's Anne Hayles is in the Scholastic Women's 200-meter freestyle event. Blue Devil Steve Crowe also enters the Scholastic One-Meter diving event.

In track & field, Holley resident Jesse Doty received a bronze medal one year ago on the Open Men's Hammer (16 lb.) throw with 53.90 meters and will try to better his mark this year. Other competitors include Hilton's Craig Sillick in the Open Men's javelin, Brockport's Whitney Dupra in the scholastic Women's pole vault and Jimmy Sorel in the Scholastic Men's 110 meter 39" hurdles.

The Western New York baseball team won a gold medal last year for the first time since 1993 and will try to defend their title with Hilton's Nick Napolitano on the pitching staff and Brockport infielder Andrew Parrino.

Holley resident Traci Spanitz was part of the bowling mixed doubles, team and all-around first place finishers one-year ago and again will be part of the Open Women's Singles competition. Brockport's Nick Secours will compete in the Open Men's Singles - both held at Transit Lanes in Williamsville.

The WNY team also took home gold last year in cycling and Spencerport's Robert Deroo will try to bring home another as part of the two person coaching staff.

In Women's Ice Hockey, Amanda Ritzel of Spencerport and Liz Zorn and Lindsay Pegler from Churchville will lace up the skates at Niagara University's Dwyer Arena trying to better last year's silver medal performance. Pegler, who will be a senior, plays defense for the Buffalo Bisons Midget AA Team. The Bisons are three time state champions and Pegler has traveled as far away as Anchorage, Alaska to participate in Nationals. This will be Pegler's third year as a member of the Empire State Team, earning a gold in 2001 and a silver in 2002. Zorn, who will be a sophomore, plays forward for the Rochester Edge Bantam A Girls Travel Team. She scored 31 goals for the Edge last season. This will be her first year as a part of the Empire State Games, having been an alternate last year.

Brockport native Marie Delobbe will compete in judo in the Open Women's 57kg-126 lb. class held at Daemen College starting Friday.

Nine different athletes join Western New York teams in soccer. The Open Women's team won a bronze medal last year - the seventh straight medal for the team - and has Hilton's Jacklyn Burch and Churchville's Ashley Squires at midfield with Brockport's Brenna McJury and Spencerport's Megan Hosey on defense. Two Spencerport residents - Ryan Hickey and Kevin Thornton - join Churchville's Nathan Wiley on the Open Men's team, who look to improve on their bronze medal performance last year. On the scholastic teams, Spencerport's Jessica Bartock and Sally Cappetta are among the midfielders on the WNY squad.

In Scholastic Men's Volleyball, Section Five MVP Eric Palumbo from Churchville-Chili is joined by Spencerport's Brandon Waas in matches to be played at the University of Buffalo. In wrestling, Holley's Matthew Paeth will compete in the Open Men's 85 kg (187-lb.) Greco-Roman competition and the Rangers Brett Woodward in the Scholastic Men's 59-kg (132 lb.) weight class; also in Greco-Roman with all matches held at Buffalo State.

It was also announced that the 2004 Games will be held in Binghamton and the 2005 Games were granted to Hudson Valley.