CIF STATE WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS : Pham Hopes to Find His Final Place

Loc Pham’s four-year wrestling career at Irvine High comes to a quick close at the CIF State meet Friday and Saturday at Stockton.

He will be seeking to win the 112-pound title, of course, but there’s more to it than that. Finishing among the top seven is the final stumbling block confronting Pham. Over the last four seasons, he has placed at every major meet at which he has wrestled. Only a State meet placing has eluded him.

Each season, Pham has added one more line to a growing resume.

He placed third in the South Coast League meet as a freshman. Check.

He placed third at the Southern Section 4-A championships as a sophomore. Check.

He was third at the Masters meet and qualified for the State meet as a junior. Check.

And he hopes this is the season he completes his personal grand slam.

“I really can’t say for sure,” said Pham, who goes into the State meet with a 132-39 career record.

“I don’t say, ‘I want to be a (section) or State champ.’ I give it some space. I say ‘I want to be in the top five at Masters or the top seven at State.’

“You have to make realistic goals.”

More than anything else, that attitude has vaulted Pham from a novice who knew “zilch,” according to Irvine Coach John Phillips, to a potential State placer.

Certainly, Pham’s early experiences with the sport didn’t portend a great future. He got his start by arm wrestling in a freshman drafting class. Should he win, he might be the only former arm wrestler on the awards stand Saturday night.

The wrestling season had already begun when a teacher suggested that then-freshman Pham try his strength out on the wrestling match. Pham was far from an instant hit, quitting repeatedly because wrestling was cutting into his exploring time in a drainage ditch near his home.

“I used to ride my bike with my friends and we’d go to the ditch and collect crayfish and mess around,” Pham said. “It was hard because I had to be here to wrestle and I couldn’t go off with my friends.”

He stuck it out, though, and eventually found he enjoyed wrestling more than picking through the rocks and weeds in a ditch.

“As I started getting better, it started getting to be more fun,” Pham said. “I started learning new things.”

Winning and losing among them.

The biggest lesson he learned as a freshman came from a loss in the semifinals of the league tournament. He had gone through the dual meet schedule undefeated but stumbled in the tournament before finishing third.

It showed him how hard he had to work in order to be good, Phillips said.

“It’s not like he’s been a champion all the way through,” Phillips said. “He had to suffer some losses.”

Defeats have been few, however.

And that perhaps was the most startling part of Pham’s early wrestling, Phillips said.

“Usually, unless a kid’s been in age-group wrestling, it takes about three years before he can reach the level where he can place in the section,” Phillips said. “He’s a good athlete and, more significantly, he has the determination and work ethic. Once he sets a goal, he goes after it.”

Pham’s goals are always set in terms more general than specific. That way, he says, it’s not an all or nothing proposition.

Last season, he went to Stockton with hopes of finishing among the top seven at 103 pounds. After reaching the quarterfinals, he suffered a 4-3 loss to Edgar Bautista of Overfelt, which sent him into the consolation round.

Needing a victory over Rudy Correa of Santa Maria--someone he had beaten at the Masters meet a week earlier--to ensure a place in the consolation finals, Pham lost, 6-2.

Pham returns to Stockton with a familiar goal.

“His only goal is placing at State,” Phillips said.

Meet Notes

Friday’s schedule: the first round begins at 9 a.m. Saturday’s schedule: semifinals at 10 a.m.; finals at 7 p.m.

Orange County’s contingent:

112 pounds--Loc Pham (Irvine), Shane Valdez (Calvary Chapel).

119--Ahid Diab (Los Amigos), Cesar Trejo (Canyon), Dane Valdez (Calvary Chapel).

125--Teak Sato (Savanna).

130--Juan Alvarez (El Modena), Joey Coughran (Calvary Chapel), Jimmie Gonzalez (Mater Dei).

135--Todd Cameron (El Modena), Dave Gayer (Canyon), Mauricio Mora (Calvary Chapel), Zac Tapia (San Clemente).

140--Josh Holiday (Calvary Chapel), Jeff Rodrigues (Savanna), David Wells (El Modena).

145--Chris Jaime (El Modena), Juan Lua (Century), Ed Mosley (El Modena), Bryan Neal (Savanna).

152--John Pickens (Ocean View), Ryan Sufian (Fountain Valley).

160--Miguel Melendez (San Clemente).

171--Hyuson Kim (University), Alonzo Ruiz (Santa Ana), Terry Tuzzolino (Capistrano Valley).

189--Tito Ortiz (Huntington Beach).

Heavyweight--Caleb Kemp (Los Alamitos), Wali Sibrie (Buena Park), Tom Stapleton (Canyon).