SOUTHERN SECTION WRESTLING ROUNDUP: T.O. WRESTLER IN RIGHT PLACE CHUN OVERCOMES SKIN DISEASE TO SUCCEED IN SPORT.

Byline: Daily News

Jacob Chun has come a long way in four years in wrestling after mistakenly being placed in the sport instead of a basketball class as a Thousand Oaks High freshman.

On Saturday, Chun finished second at 145 pounds in the Southern Section Southern Division wrestling at Westminster High, the highest finish by an area wrestler, and claimed a berth in the Masters Meet next weekend at Fountain Valley High.

The two-time Marmonte League champion went undefeated in three matches in the two-day tournament before suffering a 6-2 loss to top-seeded Chad Hemerson of Calvary Chapel of Santa Ana.

For Chun, his biggest challenge came before high school.

As a child, Chun suffered from severe atopic dermatitis and allergies while growing up in Portland, Ore. The moist Northwest conditions exasperated the skin rash with the circulation of moles and spores.

Some prescribed house confinement. Others said that anything less than a sterile plastic bubble would lead to his death because of infection. Another suggested a move to a coastal desert environment, where the circulation of moles and spores would be at a minimum.

Chun's mother, Elsje, a single mom with eight children, opted to move from Oregon to Thousand Oaks when Jacob was in sixth grade in hopes of getting his allergies under control.

``People told me it would be a death sentence, but I had to give it a try,'' she said. ``He would have no life living in a bubble. That would be a death sentence in itself. All the medication was slowly killing him.''

Chun's condition has improved steadily the past seven years in Ventura County. His mother has a list of medications that is four pages long that her son has taken during his lifetime. He now carries only a tube of anti-itch cream and an inhaler to meets and monitors his diet to avoid foods such as fish with high acid contents.

``Each year, I've progressed a little further,'' Chun said. ``I planned to make it to the finals today. I am really thinking that I can make it to state this year.''

The top five wrestlers in each weight class advanced to the Masters Meet, the state meet qualifying competition.

- Kirby Lee

--Coastal Division: No alarm was sounded within Southern Section circles when four Valley private schools established the Mission League for wrestling four years ago.

Put bluntly, Harvard-Westlake High of Studio City, Crespi of Encino, Alemany of Mission Hills and Chaminade of West Hills, don't exactly fit the wrestling mold.

Stereotypes aside, however, the league has in short order established itself as a force.

The point was illustrated by a strong showing at Saturday's Southern Section Coastal Division individual championships at Edison High of Huntington Beach. Harvard-Westlake's Kenji Porter became the region's first wrestler in seven years to win back-to-back section titles (Highland's Stuart Young, 1997-98), and Crespi qualified its first two wrestlers in school history to next week's Masters Meet (Feb. 25-26 at Fountain Valley High).

``At first, it was a joke,'' Crespi coach Mike Odman said of the league's entry into the sport. ``The wrestling community is a wonderful community, and because a lot of schools don't even have wrestling programs, everyone was very supportive, but behind closed doors, nobody took us too seriously.''

Porter (42-4), who last season won the title in the 217-pound division, shed more than 20 pounds in an intense offseason conditioning program that he cited as a key factor in his dominating the 191-pound division this year.

``It's a great feeling,'' Porter said. ``It's hard enough to win one, and to do it two times is just an awesome feeling.''

Porter had just one point scored on him all tournament. He defeated Esperanza of Anaheim's Jake Pinkham 5-0 in the title match after a 16-0 victory over defending section champion and state meet qualifier of Jim Dooley (Edison).

``He was sharper than he's ever been,'' Harvard-Westlake coach Gary Bairos said. ``He just pummeled everyone.''

Three-time defending league champion Crespi enjoyed what Odman said was its program's biggest day in school history.

A clever strategy got heavyweight Sione Fua a qualifying fifth-place finish even though didn't wrestle after suffering a separated shoulder in a championship semifinal loss to Edison's Romney Fuga.

Conrad Agajanian (173), who dropped into the consolation bracket Friday, won his first three matches, highlighted by a 5-3 victory over Esperanza's Dan Chavez in the Masters qualifying match.

Fuga took an injury default forfeit in his first consolation match. His fifth/sixth-place Masters qualifying match opponent, Ramos Humberto (Gabrielino of San Gabriel), was forced into an injury default after suffering a concussion in his previous match.

--Central Division: Highland High of Palmdale's Steve Frehn (147) overcame severe flu symptoms to become Highland's first Southern Section champion in seven years and the league's first section champion in five years at the Central Division meet at Brea Olinda High.

``Everyone felt at least five pounds heavier,'' Frehn said. ``I remember thinking in my first (Friday) match `how am I going to last all six minutes.''

Frehn defeated Peninsula of Rolling Hills Estates' Chase Macer 4-2 in the title match.

``He won with 110 percent heart, and maybe 80 percent of his strength,'' Highland coach Mike Young said.

Frehn was among just four Master's qualifiers out of the Golden League, which qualified 11 last season.

Palmdale's Sam Cooksey (135), a No. 2 seed, wrestled his way back through the consolation round to take fifth place. Antelope Valley of Lancaster's Eric Timson, who Frehn beat in the semifinals 3-2, took fifth, and Littlerock's Johnny Garso (160) finished third.

- Gideon Rubin

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