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Khoury Relishes First and Last NCAAs On Men's Gym Roster
4/18/2019 2:41:00 PM | Men's Gymnastics
George Khoury is no stranger to the NCAA Championships. The Gophers have qualified in each of his four years as part of the men's gymnastics program, last year finishing as the national runner-up. But this year will be different.
This year, also his last, George Khoury will still be at NCAA Championships – but now, his name is on the roster.
Despite competing for many years amongst future Gophers in his class like Ben Winkel, Vitali Kan and Michael Harris, George knew that his gymnastics weren't at the collegiate level. With his competition days over after high school, the Woodbury native took an opportunity from head coach Mike Burns to still be part of the sport he loved – with his hometown team – as a manager.
But it didn't take long for George to realize that he wanted more for himself. After seeing the success of his class, he decided to resume training his sophomore year.
"It was tough to be on the sidelines during meets, or even when the team was being recognized for something," Khoury said. To not be part of it, even though I thought I was. "But I think after I started making progress, I realized that I did have it in me to be a college athlete, and I didn't think I had it before … Once I kind of got that confidence, it became personal."
Then-assistant coach Russ Fystrom worked with Khoury on pommel horse, an event he says he was never great at growing up. But he managed to keep improving, and this led to George approaching Burns about a spot on the team after his junior year.
Burns had known George for a long time and saw that he was a natural-born leader early on.
"One of my favorite memories is when he was a teenager and in one of our junior meets," Burns said. "Him and his teammates did some fundraising, they got together and went to a local grocery store and bagged groceries. And then during the competition, just before awards … He grabs the microphone and gives this impassioned speech, explaining what they did and why they did it. And I remember it like it was yesterday, thinking, 'Wow, that kid's got something special.'"
That said, it was still a tough decision on whether or not Khoury would have a spot on the team for his senior year. Logistics aside, it would also be hard to try to fill the hole that he'd leave. George had seen all sides of the program like no one else had, from helping with video to touring campus with recruits.
"I had to search deep and long to make the decision, but I made the decision on the first day of school, first lineup, first practice," Burns said. "It was a moment that he'd been dreaming of his whole life. And to be part of making somebody's dream come true, it's a nice place to be. I felt good about it."
It was a day that George wasn't sure would ever come. Leading up to senior year, recruits kept coming and spots dwindled. He questioned if he could mentally handle returning as manager.
"I didn't know at all. And then when [Burns] announced it … It was as if all the bad practices I've ever had, or all the times I didn't think it would happen, just went away," Khoury said. "All the hard work was worth it and that's the best thing you can ask for."
It meant a lot to Khoury's classmates as well, who had become his best friends over the years.
"Even though he wasn't necessarily on the team, he was always there. It was a journey, and it felt like we were on that journey with him," Kan said. "When we finally got the news …The joy that he was feeling is kind of indescribable, and it was just as much for us."
Khoury was able to get into two meets this season to compete pommel horse, but he's also been a consistent leader for his team outside of the gym.
When it came time for the underclassmen to vote on senior superlatives, George was voted "Most Likely to Cure Cancer," amongst some sillier titles. Except Khoury's was no joke.
"My sophomore year, I got a job at the Masonic Cancer Center. I was doing more administrative stuff, and then I moved laterally and got into a research lab, where I work with breast cancer cells," Khoury said. "It's kind of humbling because I don't know much, but a lot of it is learning on the job, and that's the best way to learn in my opinion."
With goals of becoming a doctor, Khoury has his MCAT scheduled and will work full-time for a year before entering med school – which he'll hopefully attend in someplace warm. He received Academic All-Big Ten honors this year, his first eligible as a team member.
Regardless of whether or not he competes or how the team performs, the NCAA Championships will be Khoury's last meet with the program he's been an integral part of for four years.
"I'm hoping we make a big statement, it's the last meet of the year, it's a perfect opportunity to do that," Khoury said. "I hope we have a finish that we can be proud of and I hope we have a performance that will be fun for all of us, because that's probably the most important part."
Though he may not have all of the same accolades or statistics as his teammates, George has left his mark for years to come.
"A lot of people look up to him. For how well he does inside of the gym, outside the gym, how hard he works, how much determination he has in life," Kan said. "I think he's given a lot of that to these freshmen, a lot of that wisdom. His impact has been so worthwhile."
Written by Athletic Communications Assistant, Emily Polglaze