Ian McLaughlin hasn't reached the top of the mountain yet, but the Butler freshman wrestler has plenty of time to get there.

It doesn't matter which mountain you want to talk about - career wins, WPIAL title, state championship - he wants them all.

"I like to set goals and go after them," McLaughlin said. "I know T.J. McCance holds the (Butler) wins record and I know it's 103. I want that.

"But no one from Butler has ever won a state championship in wrestling. I definitely want that."

And McLaughlin follows the theory of his father, Mark McLaughlin, who is heading the new high school wrestling program at Knoch.

"Goals are only dreams unless you've got an action plan to achieve them," his father said.

McLaughlin's plan is well under way. Consider his achievements already as the Golden Tornado's 119-pound wrestler:

At 31-5, he is the first Butler freshman to win 30 matches in a season. Garrett Boarts, Joe Davis, McCance, Don Geibel and Lyneil Mitchell are the only other Tornado wrestlers to ever do it, period.

He is the first Butler freshman to win a section championship.

He already has 25 pins - shattering Adam Pritts' former school record of 21 in a season - and, barring injury, is certain to break Pritts' career pin record of 49. He could do it before the end of his sophomore year.

"Ian is a pinner," Butler coach Scott Stoner said. "He has the strength, but there's more to it than that. It's all about leverage and knowing how to apply pressure.

"Ian knows how to position himself against his opponent and make that 119 pounds feel like 250.

"He doesn't go into a match looking for a way to defeat the other guy. He's looking for a way to pin him. That's the level he's at," Stoner added.

McLaughlin has been a winner - and a pinner - since he broke into wrestling in second grade.

"I've always been a pinner," he said. "I pinned the first kid I ever wrestled and it happened rather quickly."

While 30 wins and a section title aren't commonplace for a freshman at the varsity level, they aren't unprecedented, either.

Matt and Nick Nelson won 30 matches each and section titles as twin freshmen at Shaler last year and went on to place seventh in the PIAA meet.

Both repeated as section champions this year.

"You never want to put undue expectations on a kid, but we're hoping Ian is at that same type of level," Stoner said.

Two of McLaughlin's five losses this year are to unbeaten Jeff Kusich of Avella, who is among the favorites to win the Class AA state title at 119.

"All of Ian's losses have come when he's gone on the mat without a plan of attack, where he's kind of waiting for something to happen," Stoner said. "But that doesn't seem to be happening anymore.

"He's more aggressive now. He knows what he wants to do out there."

McLaughlin puts a notch on the back of his headgear each time he defeats an opponent.

"It's an easy way to keep track of how many wins I have," he said.

Stoner doesn't consider that a sign of arrogance. He views it as a sign of pride.

"When I was in high school, we put stars on our helmets for each win," Stoner said. "As a sport, we seem to have gotten away from that type of thing. I'd like to see it come back."

McLaughlin has wrestled year-round for a number of years. He's been a member of Rob Waller's wrestling club in Latrobe, the Pitt Bulls in Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh's wrestling club.

"We've worn out two vehicles taking him to and from practice over the years," Mark McLaughlin said. "One year, we put 16,000 miles on the car just going back and forth to wrestling.

"A lot of kids do wrestling clubs, though. Ian's been able to stay focused on the sport. He knows his strengths and weaknesses and he's always been motivated to get better."

Now he's entering new territory: the WPIAL Tournament, which begins Thursday night at Canon-McMillan High School.

"I know where I want to get to and that's the state tournament," McLaughlin said. "Getting there, placing and winning there … I know it's a process and it takes time.

"Hopefully, I can do it sooner rather than later."

Stoner refuses to place McLaughlin's name up there with Troy Letters and other great wrestling names to come out of Section 3.

"Wrestling is survival of the fittest," he said. "There will always be someone coming along to challenge you. That's the nature of the sport. It's too early to tell whether Ian will stay up to those challenges."

He could - as long as he remains motivated by the past.

"McCance, Boarts, Mitchell, the Parker boys … Ian has a lot of respect for what those guys accomplished at Butler," Mark McLaughlin said. "He wants to leave his name alongside those guys."

If not above them.