Since picking up judo five years ago, Sarah Phillips’ coaches and friends have been quick to tell her she’s destined to follow in the footsteps of her older cousin, Samantha Phillips.

Samantha has made that feat difficult with a successful judo career and wrestling accolades with Manteca High School that earned her a scholarship to compete with arguably the nation’s best women’s collegiate wrestling team— Oklahoma City University.

But these days, Sarah Phillips, 14, a New Haven Elementary graduate and incoming East Union High freshman, has been getting advice to blaze her own trail.

“My parents say that I am not only going to follow in Samantha’s footsteps, but I am going to go a step further,” Sarah said. “I know that’s going to be hard because I know Samantha got her black belt in judo and has taught me a lot.”

Sarah Phillips did her best to distinguish herself with a first-place finish at the 2009 California Judo Inc. State Championships in San Diego. With 540 contestants in 119 sparring divisions, Phillips won the juvenile 48-kilogram division, topping Jennifer Adachi of Los Altos in the final.

It was an improvement over her third-place finish in last year’s state championships in the same division.

“It was a lot of fun, but I was also really nervous,” Phillips said. “I always start shaking before a big tournament.”

The Stockton Judo Club product will join East Union’s wrestling team in the winter season, with eyes on the second annual Sac Joaquin Section Girls Wrestling Invitational Tournament and California Interscholastic Federation Northern Regional Championships.

It’s tournaments like those where Samantha garnered recognition as one of the top recruits to the college wrestling scene. Sarah would love to compete in college, but her immediate goals are simpler.

“First, I want to get to the point where I am a black belt in judo,” she said. “I am a blue belt now, so I am only three belts away, and I know I can do it.”

Phillips will compete in the Judo Nationals on July 11 in San Francisco and hopes to create enough sponsorship support to travel to the Junior Olympics in July in Orlando, Fla.

“It’s fun competing, but the best thing about judo is meeting new people,” she said. “Judo has taken me a lot of places.”