Division's Pellegrino (55-0) wins title
Johnny Pellegrino of Division High School raises his arms in triumph after defeating Wantagh's Danny McDevitt. (Feb. 13, 2011) Credit: James Escher
In the short break before his 125-pound Nassau finals match, Johnny Pellegrino could wait no more. The Division wrestler paced back and forth on his corner of the mat, then slapped his legs and did some leaning stretches. When the whistle finally sounded, the kid with a sparkling 54-0 record did what he always does: Win.
With a 4-2 decision over Wantagh's Danny McDevitt at the Nassau Division I championship/state qualifier at Hofstra Sunday, Pellegrino's mission became a reality: 55-0 and a trip to the state championship Feb. 25 in Albany. "I was thinking that I tried hard all season and that I won't give up," he said. "I just kept going."
Said Division coach Bob Bennett, "A lot of wrestlers, when they see who they are wrestling, get nervous as heck. He doesn't care. He just goes out there and wrestles."
As Pellegrino walked to the mat, his good friend and offseason training partner, Will Montgomery of Seaford, was exiting. Montgomery had just taken the 119-pound title with a 10-4 decision over Garden City's Mike Lofrese. The friends, offseason training partners, shared a short embrace.
"I told him it was his turn," Montgomery said. "We both have been working hard all year, and it was both of our goals to win county championships."
Montgomery won the 96-pound title two years ago as a sophomore, then finished second at 112 pounds as a junior. In preparation for recapturing a county title, Montgomery and Pellegrino sparred countless hours with one another. "We've been training all year round," Pellegrino said.
Jermaine John finally got his county title. After third-place finishes the past two years, the Bethpage senior won the 160-pound title with a 9-1 major decision over MacArthur's Joe Cataldo. "I've been training so hard to get here, and I finally got it," John said. "Now I want to take it upstate and do the same."
In an all-Long Beach final at 103 pounds, Krishna Sewkumar avenged last year's loss and beat Mark Raghunandan with a pin at 5:23. Sewkumar, down 2-1 in the third period, utilized the cradle pin to win.
Herricks' Ryan Singh upset previously unbeaten John Lanzillotti (47-1) of Roslyn, 7-3, at 112 pounds. It's Herricks' first county champion since Maciej Jochym won the 215-pound title in 2007.
In Division II, Mineola led the way with 259.5 points, crowning four champions: Matt Long (135), Steve O'Connor (145), Chris Euell (189) and Dan Granados (215). O'Connor won the tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler award. McKinley Mohrman, the 119-pound champion from Cold Spring Harbor, had the most pins (3) in the least amount of time (1:52). Valley Stream North also had four champions: Justin Uslaner (112), Jesse Oppenheimer (125), Nick Gonzalez (160) and Rob Kishun (96).
