By TONY BELLISSIMO
Khoury placed fourth in the 96-pound weight class to earn All-County status a year after falling one win short of the accomplishment. He won four of six matches in the two-day event, including an upset of top-seeded Joe Barbato of Garden City.
"Jon is one of the hardest working young men I've coached," Long Beach coach Ray Adams said of Khoury, who spent most of the season competing at 103 pounds in order to face tougher and stronger foes.
Khoury, who took first place in the qualifying tournament hosted by Baldwin on Feb. 17, entered the big stage at Hofstra as the No. 3 seed. He needed only 41 seconds to advance to the quarterfinals, pinning Justin Surkes of Lawrence in Friday's second round, but his championship hopes ended with a 6-3 defeat to Mike Lofrese of Garden City. Lofrese, who was unseeded, went on to become the first eighth-grade county champ in Nassau history.
"Jon put in a lot of time over four years to become an All-County wrestler, and I'm proud of him," Adams said.
To Khoury's credit, he didn't lose focus after he was jettisoned to the loser's bracket. He dominated Tyler Calinda from Roslyn, 18-3, and bested Joe Maher from Bellmore-JFK, 4-0, to guarantee himself a top six (All-County) finish and a ticket to come back for additional bouts on Saturday. He outlasted Barbato, 5-4 in overtime, then lost to Will Montgomery from Seaford, 2-0, in the third-place match.
Khoury's teammates didn't fare as well but some gained valuable experience. Joining Khoury at Hofstra were senior Jared Knauer, juniors Anthony Cardenas, Andy Ayala, Jacob Umanzor and Mauricio Vides, sophomores Vincent Hall and Oliver Astone, freshmen Adam D'Auguste and Mike Faraglia, and eighth-grader Dylan Palacio.
D'Auguste (130) went 2-2 and came within a victory of All-County. He pinned North Shore's Pierce Janssen in 3:11 and edged Lynbrook's Tom Ligouri, 6-4. Like Khoury, Palacio (112) also lost to a Lofrese from Garden City. Danny Lofrese beat him in the second round, 8-4, after Palacio pinned Bellmore-JFK's Rich Frank.
Cardenas picked up a win at 189, pinning Clarke's Ansh Kaira in 1:48, before losing to South Side's Frank Giampaolo. Hall (171) went 1-1, pinning Bethpage's James Isnardi in 3:07. Astone (215) opened with a feel-good 3-2 triple overtime decision against Marco Benitez of Clarke and then drew top-ranked Spenser DeSena of Garden City, who pinned him en route to the crown.
Knauer (135 pounds) lost a tough opening match to Valley Stream South's Dan Hernandez, 4-2. Ayala (140), Umanzor (112), Vides (285) and Faraglia (96) went down in their initial bouts. "There's no substitute for experience," Adams said.
Comments about this story? tbellissimo@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000, ext. 204.
