It's no secret that sports have been on the rise at Auburn High School.

Over the past few years league, section and even state championship banners have been regularly added to the Maroons' gym in a multitude of different sports.

When the Empire State Games kick off later this week, incoming seniors and close friends Kelly Grinnell, Marissa Slayton and Kaitlyn Aldrich will have the chance to bring even more hometown pride to their respective sports. While this particular hardware won't sit in glass trophy cases on Lake Avenue, the three Auburn athletes have the chance to add some gold, silver or bronze to their own personal resumes.

Grinnell will represent the Maroons in basketball. A point guard for Auburn, Grinnell made the Central Region squad as a guard. As a junior she led the league in scoring and the Section III in 3-point shooting.

Grinnell was hampered by a foot injury last year and opted to not to try out for the games.

“I didn't really think I'd go far into the tryouts,” she said. “So I just planned on getting better for (the) next year's tryouts.”

After making the team, Grinnell shared the news with Slayton, who had tried out for the soccer squad. A midfielder for the Maroons highly successful team last fall, Slayton encountered a setback when she tore her ACL in Auburn's last game of the season. The first-team all-leaguer was cleared to play again the day tryouts began.

“It was my first time really playing soccer all-out for the tryouts,” Slayton said. “It was pretty nerve-racking because everyone else had been playing all year-round and this was my first time back.” Aldrich played attack for the Maroons' lacrosse team this season. Naturally a defender, Aldrich had to switch into a scoring role after a foot injury limited her ability to run the field.

Aldrich was first team all-league after nearing the 30-goal mark, but will play defense for the Central Region.

She and the rest of the team have high hopes for the teams' success in the Games, hoping for a gold medal in a long-standing rivalry over Long Island.

“I'm looking forward to playing Long Island, I think my team has a really good chance of beating them” she said. “We have a solid offense and a solid defense.”

It was fairly easy for Aldrich to tell her friends that she would be making the trip with them.

“They know that lacrosse is my life,” she said. “It's all I ever talk about.”

The girls have been friends for quite a long time now.

Grinnell and Slayton have been best friends since elementary school and Grinnell became close with Aldrich when the two played basketball together at West Middle School.

Slayton admits that having a few friends around will make the Games a little less intimidating.

“It helps out knowing someone in the same position you are,” she said.

The trio plans to catch each other's games when they're not going for the gold themselves.

“My mom has already printed out the schedule,” Grinnell said. “I've got Kaitlyn's games and Marissa's games and I can pretty much go to all of them except if we get to the medal round.”

Win or lose the girls have already taken pride in their accomplishments and what is says for Auburn sports.

“I think it just shows that all of the individuals in Auburn work really hard to excel in sports or whatever we want to do,” Slayton said. “We know that if we want to be good at something we're going to have to put forth an extra effort in order to do it. I think by making the Empire State team it shows that we all gave an extra effort to better ourselves.”