Kennedy Cougars Wrestling Preview

2009-10 Record: 18-8 (Lost in quarterfinals of Nassau Dual Meet Championship)

Head Coach: Brian DeGaetano (17th season)

Assistant Coaches: George Munnich; Joe Goetz; Angelo Zegarelli

Top Wrestlers: Robert Person (sophomore); John Luxmore (junior); Bobby Krug (senior)

Kennedy's wrestling team is headlined by Person, who took third in the Nassau County Championships last year as a freshman. He will be wrestling this season at the 96-pound weight class.

"Person will be contending for the county championship as he was last year," DeGaetano said. "He lost a tough match in the semis, so he'll be looking to win it."

The dedication Person puts into his trade is obvious from the start, especially as hes effortlessly jumps rope while giving quotes to the press. While only a sophomore, Person has his eyes set on more than just a county championship. "My expectations for this season are to win the state title and nothing less," he said.

Joining Person among the top wrestlers to watch are Luxmore and Krug, who were both all-conference wrestlers last year.

"Luxmore has been on the team since seventh grade and I think he's ready for a breakout season," DeGaetano said. "… Krug is also a strong contender to win the county championship. He's going to be right in the mix, in the top-four."

DeGaetano added: "They're our most seasoned guys. They have the most experience and they're good, they're tough."

Expectations: Now entering his 17th season as the Cougars wrestling coach, DeGaetano always expects the highest possible performances from his wrestlers, and this season is no different.

"We always have high expectations," he said. "We usually do well. We're looking to be in the top five or six in the county as we are every year and try to get it to the final four of the dual meet championships."

Person thought his coach's goal was more than realistic and also, more than likely.

"As a team I'm hoping to place in the top-six in the county," Person said. "We can definitely do it. We have a bunch of guys who are definitely able to take top-three in the county individually, so we can definitely take top-six; it's a reachable goal."

Big Meets: 12/22 vs. Mepham; 1/19 @ Garden City; 1/21 @ Seaford

The Cougars will have their work cut out for them this season, but DeGaetano said that there were three matchups that stood out on the schedule.

On top of Mepham having a very good wrestling program, the Dec. 22 match is important to Kennedy for another reason.

"December 22nd is alumni day, and Steve Hunt, who was our state champion and he wrestled for Iowa and Dan Gable, he'll be here in attendance," DeGaetano said. "He's retiring from the army, he's a colonel, and he's retiring this year so this is a big night for him."

He added: "…It's going to be a good time. We have an alumni party afterwards. We have a good alumni turnout for it and it's a big conference match."

News & Notes: Last year's regular season showed a lot of promise for the Cougars, a team that has been a consistent wrestling squad for years, but the season ended abruptly in the quarterfinals and the team had a less than stellar showing at the county championships.

"We had six kids wrestling for all-county in the all-county round, and only two guys won, so that hurt us," DeGaetano said. "We easily could have been a top-10 team. We're hoping to improve on that. We've got two new coaches to help us fix that."

"We had a good season, but it was disappointing," he added. "We didn't have a good ending in the county tournament, but we had a good regular season.

With a ton of talent in several weight classes and Person leading the way, the Cougars could do some serious damage at the county championships this season.

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