In the championship round of Prep State Duals, captain and All-SPC Mason Lum would emerge victorious for the Mavericks, earning the 100th win of his career and cementing the team as Prep State Dual Champions.
Lum began wrestling at 13 when he joined the middle school wrestling program at St. John’s. Since then, he has stuck with wrestling, making it his main sport throughout high school. This year, he boasts a 21-6 record on TrackWrestling, a national database for wrestling statistics.
Lum attributes his success to the support of his coaches and teammates. According to Lum, Head Coach Alan Paul fosters an unique environment of equality and comraderie.
“Coach Paul [has] cultivated a team where even if you’re one of the worst wrestlers, you’re still brought in as a brother,” Lum said.
Lum adds that his experience playing under Coach Paul has been unforgettable because of the brotherhood cultivated by the team—so much so that he would not play in college because he would not find the same environment he found wrestling for the Mavericks.
“I think it kind of ruined wrestling for me in college, just ’cause I know that I won’t get the same team experience anywhere else.” Lum said.
Assistant coach Kyle Jolas, who has coached Lum for six years, also influenced Lum’s career. Jolas wrestled with Lum during practice, walking him through moves.
“He’s able to go through positions with me and that’s the most important thing that you can get in wrestling,” Lum said.
Lum also says that wrestling provides an instant sense of community, attributing some of his closest friendships to the wrestling team. Lum recalls that as a freshman he was able to bond with the upperclassmen on the team.
“You can just say, ‘Oh, you’re on the wrestling team. I know what kind of person you are and I wanna be friends with you,’” Lum said.
Setting goals has been a key motivator throughout Lum’s high school career. Since freshman year, Lum has shot for three titles: SPC Champion, State Champion and All-American. Lum has taken home both the State and SPC Champion titles, and he’s come close to earning All-American as well.
“Freshman year, I didn’t meet any of [the goals]. I was runner up for both SPC and State, and made it to the round of 16 at Nationals, two rounds before All-American,” Lum said.
In his sophomore year, Lum also placed second for both SPC and State. The next year, Lum placed third place for State — however, he won the SPC championship, which quickly became his favorite title.
“The week before [SPC] was state and I got third, losing in the semifinals. I lost to the guy who eventually won State,” said Lum.“SPC came, and I wrestled him again and I won.”
Lum also took home the State title in his senior year. To Lum, success means more than just a personal victory.
“I wanted to perform for my team as well, because I know there’s 50 guys supporting me,” Lum said. “It’s a hard sport, and if you don’t have a team supporting you, you’re gonna hate it.”
Lum advises younger athletes to focus less on the outcome and more on the effort put in. He maintains the importance of prioritizing personal performance over placement.
“For three years I was so worried about winning rather than just performing my best,” Lum said. This year, coming in with a mindset to simply try as hard as he could, Lum believes he has it figured out.
With senior co-captains Sebastian Rodriguez and Henry Denham, Lum led the Mavs to victory at the Cinco Ranch and Doc Hess Invitational tournaments for the first time in school history. “It felt like we were leading the team that we wanted, the way we wanted to.” As a result, the team also placed higher in nationals and the Prep Slam tournament than ever before.
In the end, Lum wishes to leave a mark on the team as not only a strong wrestler, but an inspiring leader. “I want to be remembered as the guy that helped the wrestling team jump levels,” said Lum. “When I come back, I want kids to remember who I am. I don’t care if they remember me as a successful wrestler, but I want them to remember me as the kid who inspired them to work as hard as they can and be the best wrestler that they can be.”
