Game(s) on!

We're three weeks away from the start of the 2010 Empire State Games, the first ESGs since 2008.Following the cancellation of the '09 ESGs because of the state budget crunch, the annual event is coming to Western New York, beginning with the Opening Ceremonies on July 21, and with the actual competitions to take place the following four days.

Leading up to the Games, the Poughkeepsie Journal will profile some of the local athletes who will be competing in the Buffalo area.

One of those local athletes, Marist College's Emily Stallings (No. 20 above), said she was looking forward to the return of the ESGs, in which she participated for three years.

"I would have come back in 10 years," the Newburgh native said of the 2009 hiatus, "because I loved it so much."

Check out the Journal in the coming days to read about our local ESG participants...