Murillo Proves Able to Carry His Weight

When a 103-pound teenage boy shows up looking to join a high school sports team, the usual response from the coach is, “Go get the water bottles and towels.”

Only in wrestling is there a serious need for the smaller athlete. Every team must have someone to compete in the 103-pound division, so coaches scour cafeteria lines and freshman physical education classes for possible candidates.

Luckily for Fernando Gonzalez, the coach at San Fernando High, Luis Murillo came to wrestling tryouts last year at the urging of a friend who was on the team. He had never competed in sports before or even seen a wrestling match, but he weighed 110 pounds, so Gonzalez enthusiastically welcomed him.

Suddenly, Murillo’s life changed.

“I was a quiet, shy kid who walked around campus not being known by anyone,” he said. “After wrestling, my confidence as an individual grew. I started talking more.”

He got to put on a San Fernando uniform and compete for his school. His record was 8-15, but his team won the City Section championship, earning him a ring.

This season, his record is 24-9 and he hopes to compete for a City individual title on March 1 at Lake Balboa Birmingham. On Wednesday, he helped the Tigers win the City dual-meet championship.

Murillo said nothing he has done in his life compares to the feeling of standing on the podium after a match and receiving a medal.

“It’s something that no one thought I could do,” he said.

High school sports has lost much of its innocence because of the spotlight on such athletes as Ohio basketball phenom LeBron James but watching Murillo and the other 103-pound wrestlers compete restores faith in why high school sports exists.

It’s for trial and error, success and failure, taking risks and learning from mistakes. It’s about growing up, making friends, having fun and competing for your school.

Murillo didn’t join the wrestling team until his junior year. He had to overcome the usual concerns non-athletes have, such as how he’d look in a skimpy uniform or what he’d do if he embarrassed himself in front of a crowd.

His brothers and sisters couldn’t believe he was on the team.

“They never thought I had it in me,” he said. “I just thought to myself, ‘I have to get over this fear and learn to stop caring what other people thought of me.’ ”

Slowly, he learned the rules, picked up moves and gained strength and endurance. He can bench-press 165 pounds.

“I’ve improved from last year to this year tremendously,” he said.

When 103-pound wrestlers collide on the mat, they’re not going to be mistaken for Stone Cold Steve Austin.

“It’s a dramatic difference between heavyweight,” Bell Coach Eric Klein said. “It’s fast-paced, all over the mat, lots of action, lots of points. They’re little and able to move quickly.”

Finding 103-pound boys has become so difficult that some teams have turned to girls. It’s no longer a rarity to see boy taking on girl, and Murillo has learned to stay focused when his opponent is a girl.

“You can’t show them sympathy because they’ll take advantage and beat you,” he said.

Murillo has become a veteran wrestler as far as knowing what it takes to make his weight.

He is 5 feet 6 and his weight fluctuates between 105 and 118 pounds. During the season, he’s on a tuna diet. Five days a week, he eats tuna and mustard for lunch and dinner. Cans of tuna are stacked in a cupboard at home.

“I’m sick of tuna,” he said.

If he needs to lose five pounds in a day, running does the trick.

As soon as the season is over, he promises he will never eat tuna again, and he already knows how he’s going to celebrate.

“I’m going to a buffet,” he said.

One day, Murillo hopes to become a psychologist. And what he’ll likely remember most about his high school experience is being a member of the San Fernando wrestling team.

“Wrestling, in its own way, has its glory,” he said. “We don’t get recognition like the football players, but we’re the only City champs at school.”

Eric Sondheimer can be reached at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.