It almost seems unfair.
How could anyone do the kind of things Isaiah Locsin has done on a wrestling mat in less than two full seasons at Live Oak High School and make it look so … danged … easy?
He is being called the best ever from Morgan Hill, a once-in-a-lifetime athlete. Locsin is ranked second in the state, third in the country and last week became the first Acorns wrestler in 10 years to win back-to-back Central Coast Section championships.
Just watching Locsin, 16, warm up is a spectacle – arms fixed, legs flying, eyes open, face seamless. He is 5 feet, 3 inches of fast-twitch muscle; not one of his 113 pounds goes to waste. He is 46-0 this season and has not surrendered an offensive point. He’s a sophomore.
Locsin is also being called “Ice.” It’s a simple shortening of his first name that could also describe the way he wrestles – solid, unforgiving, cold. His coaches say he has ice in his veins. They also say he is a runaway favorite to win Live Oak’s first boys CIF state championship this weekend at Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield, setting the stage for an unprecedented final two seasons of wrestling at the high school level in one of the toughest states for it.
Locsin competes in the most elite tournaments, against kids who have articles like this one written about them. And, as Live Oak assistant coach Armando Gonzalez put it, “He destroys everyone.”
Consider Locsin’s 2011-12 résumé:
There was the Dec. 14-15 Reno (Nev.) Tournament of Champions, “The Toughest Tournament in the USA.” Locsin had three pins, a technical fall (15 points or more), a major decision and a 10-7 finals win to take top honors for the second straight year.
Then there was the Jan. 6-7 Doc Buchanan Invitational in Clovis, “Where the best meet.” After first- and second-round byes, Locsin won his four matches by fall or major decision (eight to 14 points).
At the Jan. 13-14 Temecula Valley Invitational, “The Battle for the Belt,” Locsin pinned his first five opponents in less than two minutes, then beat Joseph Dominguez (St. John Bosco–Bellflower) 5-0 in the final.
And the CCS Championships, a tournament only a handful of Acorns have won? Please.
“I was really happy with that,” he said, showing his humbleness. “I’m always happy to wrestle good opponents and just do my best.”
Only two California wrestlers have scored the highest possible amount of points at state, and Live Oak assistant coach Armando Gonzalez has mentored one of them. He is confident Locsin will be the third.
“Ice is a machine,” Gonzalez said. “You’re talking about someone who will do things no one in this town has done. He can go undefeated this year and the next two years. He’s going to leave Live Oak and go on and win several NCAA titles.”
To mold an elite talent such as Locsin for a sport that, from start to finish, demands optimal use of mind and body, takes an equally elite coaching staff.
That’s where Gonzalez, with all his wrestling connections, comes in. On top of practicing with the Acorns, who use the cutting-edge Yoke Training System developed by Locsin’s father, Dan (LOHS class of 1986), Locsin works with current and recently graduated college wrestlers who starred under Gonzalez at Gilroy High School.
“He’s like our Manny Pacquiao, and we’re living the dream,” said Gonzalez, the maestro of seven straight CCS titles for the Mustangs. “There’s so much in-house coaching talent here it’s unbelievable. This is the best caliber of training in America.”
The group includes Gonzalez’s sons, Armando Jr. and Martin. Armando Jr. was a solid contributor for Cal State Fullerton after winning four consecutive CCS titles from 2003-06. Martin recently ended a junior college All-America career at Clackamas (Ore.) with a sixth-place finish at nationals. He took fourth last year. Locsin trains with the Gonzalez brothers to improve his technique.
Locsin’s takedown partner is Adin Dueñas, a teammate of Armando Jr. at CSUF and Gilroy, Dueñas won a Pacific-10 Conference title and twice reached the NCAA Championships after placing third at state as a senior in 2006.
Hunter Collins and Jesse Delgado, who won two state and four CCS titles apiece, also stop by when they’re home from wrestling for Michigan and Illinois.
“I have good coaches and good teammates and partners; they prepared me for this,” Locsin said. “They all give me good looks, so I can adapt to wrestling at the highest college level. I always just try to work my hardest and get better every day.”
Locsin also has a private coach, Kendall Yi, an area wrestling buff who competed on scholarship at Columbia in the late 1990s. Yi now works at the Stanford School of Medicine.
Alas, the perfect segue to Locsin’s academic profile. He is a 4.0 student taking advanced placement courses. When he’s not wrestling or playing bass guitar – he doesn’t get nervous on stage. “I’m prepared,” he said – Locsin’s head is in the books.
“He’s very focused in everything he does,” Dan said.
To be the best takes more than an elite coaching staff. It starts with dedication. Locsin has pushed himself since the day he gave up basketball eight years ago to focus more on wrestling. He won a youth national title in his second year as a full-time grappler and hasn’t stopped training since.
“The way he is, he’s just one of a kind, the hardest worker you’ll ever see,” says teammate Amy Fearnside, who last week won a CIF state girls title at 108 pounds. “He trains every day like the next day will be the biggest tournament.”
So focused is Locsin, he doesn’t marvel at the history he has made.
“I don’t really think about it much. I just think about my goals,” Locsin said.
Beyond high school, those include wrestling for a major college program and the Olympic Games.
Goals are his fuel, but Locsin is also driven by memories of his previous trip to state, mainly his last memory. He became the city’s first CIF state wrestling finalist but wasn’t in the mood for celebration after losing 6-4 to North Torrance’s Johnson Mai in the 103-pound championship.
The next day, Locsin went back to work.
“I think about it a lot,” he said. “It motivated me to train my hardest and come back and win it all.”
CIF State Boys Wrestling Championships
The 40th annual event begins at 9 a.m. Friday at Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield. The third-, fifth-, and seventh-place matches are scheduled for 12:30-2:30 p.m. Saturday followed by the finals at 7:15. For updates, visit www.morganhilltimes.com and www.trackwrestling.com.
