JAMAICA, N.Y. – The 2003 Empire State Games hold its opening ceremonies tonight at the State University of New York at Buffalo, Amherst. The ceremonies begin at 7:30 p.m., with the first events beginning Thursday morning and ending Saturday evening. Several members of the St. John’s athletic community will be participating in these Games, including former and current student-athletes, coaches and administrators.

Kim MacMillian (Toms River, N.J.) and Dana Petersen (Staten Island, N.Y.) of the St. John’s women’s basketball team will be competing on the New York City team. Games will be held on the campus of Niagara University, with their first game taking place on Thursday at 4 p.m. MacMillian sat out this season after transferring from Long Island University, where she holds their school record in points (1,549), having averaged 17.4 points per game over three seasons. Petersen saw action in 24 games, including three starts, where she averaged 1.3 points and 1.6 rebounds per game.

The Red Storm women’s soccer team, coming off the ECAC Championship last season, will be well represented with six current members taking place in the Games. Pristina Alford (Tacoma, Wash.), Laura Burlacu (Flushing, N.Y.) and Erin Zambelli (Lake Ronkonkoma, NY) will be playing for New York City, while Kaitlin Schmidt (Centereach, N.Y.) represents Long Island, Dominica Reina (Frankfort, N.Y.) plays for Central and Erin Henderson (Watervliet, N.Y.) participates for Adirondack. All games will be held at the West Seneca Soccer Complex with the first game taking place at 9 a.m. on Thursday. Reina and Schmidt, the BIG EAST Freshman of the Year, paced the Red Storm offense last season, as they combined for 22 goals and 10 assists for 54 points. Zambelli hopes to add to their offensive punch after sitting out this season due to an injury, as she led the team with seven goals two seasons ago. Henderson and Alford played important roles on last season’s team, as Henderson, in her first year at St. John’s, played strong in the middle tying for the team lead in assists with six, while Alford helped to anchor the defense that posted five shutouts and allowed only 1.39 goals per game. Burlacu appeared in only seven games on the season in her first season with the Red Storm.

The St. John’s volleyball team will be represented by both former and current student-athletes, along with both of their current coaches. Head Coach Joanne Persico-Smith along with current student-athletes Jackie Ahlers (Stony Point, N.Y.) and Yana Ruban (Kiev, Ukraine) and former student-athlete Olga Roudovski will be playing on the New York City team that is being coached by St. John’s assistant coach Mario Treibitch. Their games will be held on the campus of SUNY, Buffalo, Amherst, with their first game being at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday. Ahlers, an All-BIG EAST honorable mention, is coming off a record setting freshman season where she set the St. John’s freshman record with 512 kills. Along with leading the team in kills, she finished second in total blocks (73) and service aces (32). Ruban, in her first season with the Red Storm, was a defensive force in the middle, as she led the team in total blocks with 123 and added 187 kills, good for fourth on the team. Roudovski is the most prolific offensive player in St. John’s history as she holds the school record with 1,541 career kills, including three of the top-four totals for a single season.

Rick Cole, St. John’s Associate Athletic Director for External Affairs, will compete for the Long Island team in men’s volleyball. His games will also be held at SUNY, Buffalo, with the first contest taking place at 9 a.m. on Thursday.