A wrestler from Live Oak High School went 51-0 last season, matching his state championship with perfection.
“He’s a once-in-a-lifetime wrestler,” Acorns co-coach Robert Fernandez said.
Live Oak also has a student who pinned down a 4.0 GPA last semester.
“He’s a once-in-a-lifetime kid,” Fernandez said.
So, imagine the delight college wrestling coaches must feel when they realize they can recruit all these qualities in the same person.
That person is Live Oak junior Isaiah Locsin, whose passion for wrestling is as uncommon as his grades.
“I just like the hard training, the sport of two guys to just go at it and wrestle,” Locsin said. “I think that’s awesome, and how it builds your character.”
Locsin won a 5-4 decision over top-ranked Jonas Gaytan of Clovis in last year’s 113-pound state final to cement the first individual male state title in Live Oak wrestling history.
This season, Locsin (20-3) is ranked No. 1 in the state at 120 pounds by The California Wrestler.
Locsin began competitive wrestling at 9 years old. The lessons he learned from the Gilroy Hawks and Morgan Hill Rhinos youth programs, and from his father Dan’s Yoke Training System helped plant the seeds for a wrestler who would blossom into one of the nation’s best.
How good can Locsin be?
“What’s scary is what he’s going to be like when he’s 25. That’s a scary thought,” Fernandez said. “Olympian? World champion? Sky’s the limit.”
Locsin was one of six Acorns to win by fall during a 51-17 home win over Lincoln of San Jose on Jan. 3. Minutes after his match was over, Locsin was jumping rope in the corner of the gym while watching his teammates wrestle.
Locsin brings a rare focus to the mat, and his intensity helped earn the nickname “Ice” from teammates.
But he’s also enjoying the sport.
“It’s been great,” he said of his season so far. “Working in the (wrestling) room, wrestling with all my teammates (and) just learning from my coaches is just fun. This season’s just been really fun, learning a lot.”
Locsin said he focuses on each match one at a time, and his disciplined approach helped secure titles early this season in the Reno Tournament of Champions and the McNair Invitational.
“Just like my coaches say, push the tempo, stay in good position,” Locsin said.
As a freshman, Locsin reached the 103-pound state final, suffering a 6-4 loss to North Torrance’s Johnson Mai. That defeat fueled Locsin to new heights as a sophomore.
“It motivated me a lot,” he said.
Locsin’s college recruitment is still in its early stages, but Fernandez said Navy, Harvard and Stanford are showing interest in Locsin.
“All the schools know about him,” Fernandez said. “This next year’s going to be a lot of fun. We’re going to get a lot of visitors from all the big powerhouses.”
If the Acorns are to win another Blossom Valley Athletic League title this year, Locsin should be the leader of the pack.
But he’s hardly the only standout.
Against Lincoln, the Acorns also saw Alexander Mojo (120 pounds), Adam Mito (138), Nick Locsin (145), Derek Peralta (170) and Morgan Smith (195) win by pin. Austin Langford (132) won by injury default, Josh Acosta (152) claimed a 14-9 decision and Orion Roberts (182) won by forfeit.
And Live Oak sophomore Jonathan Robles-Rials is ranked No. 28 in the state at 106 pounds.
“Being with this team, it’s been so fun because they all push super hard, and it’s just good to have teammates like that,” Locsin said.
One of Isaiah Locsin’s drill partners in practice is his cousin, Nick Locsin.
“He sacrifices a lot,” Nick Locsin said of Isaiah. “We’ll go hang out, but he can’t hang out because he’s working out. He just sacrifices a lot.”
It’s a level of sacrifice not all high school athletes are willing to make.
“I think ‘Ice’ is extremely focused and disciplined beyond his years,” Live Oak co-coach Armando Gonzalez said. “He’s really focused on achieving all the goals he’s set out. He puts great expectations on himself.”
Gonzalez, who also coaches the Morgan Hill Rhinos, has worked with Locsin since he began wrestling.
Asked if youth wrestlers look up to Locsin in any way, Gonzalez replied: “In every way.”
“Isaiah is setting the standard and showing everybody in our room how to be the best and how hard the work ethic has to be,” Gonzalez said. “We have a number of young kids who are emulating him every single day. We travel a lot, and when we go out to tournaments, Isaiah has a huge following of little guys, 6, 7 and 8 years old who love watching him wrestle. The little guys sit around his mat when he wrestles. They go home and study him on flowrestling.com and YouTube. He really is a fan favorite, and he definitely is a poster child for what we do.”
