By WILL DeBOARD
BEE STAFF WRITER
Last Updated: March 28, 2006, 08:11:54 AM PST
Billy Murphy put a little pressure on himself as he entered his final high school wrestling season.
He completed a perfect junior season in 2005 with a state championship, but the Hughson High student was looking beyond state as a senior.
“We weren’t working out just for state, “Murphy said. “We were working toward a national championship.”
His coach, Kyle Porter, felt Murphy was better than just good. Porter felt Murphy was one of the best wrestlers to ever come out of the Stanislaus District.
He went to work assembling a schedule that allowed Murphy to showcase his ability to more than a statewide audience. Porter wanted the country to see Murphy in action.
It worked. Murphy completed an undefeated season last weekend when he won the 130-pound division at the prestigious Senior National Championships in Pittsburgh.
The national title capped a 50-0 season that saw him win titles at the CIF State Meet ” including the Champion of Champion honor ” and three of the country’s top four tournaments. Murphy was an easy choice as The Bee’s 2006 Wrestler of the Year.
“Last year, I felt I had something to prove, “Murphy said. “This year, people were gunning for me. My junior year, I got to the level I wanted to be at, and this year was tougher because I was maintaining that level.
“I do think it was tougher this year.”
Porter and Murphy wanted that No.1 national ranking. And when they saw Jordan Frishkorn of Great Bridge, Va., atop most of the national rankings, they went to work to try to get a match.
“We tried to set up a match with the two, “Porter said after Murphy won the state championship March 4 at Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield. “But it didn’t look like it was going to work out.”
Great Bridge wasn’t at the Reno Tournament of Champions, considered the toughest high school tournament in the nation. And it wasn’t scheduled to participate at the Five Counties Invitational in Fountain Valley in Southern California.
But Great Bridge was going to the Ironman Invitational in Ohio.
“We basically hunted him down, “Porter said. “We were in touch with the Ironman organizers, asking them what weight Jordan was going to go. We wanted that match badly.”
Murphy got it and beat Frishkorn 3-2 to move atop every national ranking at 130 pounds. He wouldn’t be challenged after that.
“It was important to go for that top ranking, “Murphy said. “I came into that match with a lot of confidence. I knew I could do it.
“We knew we’d prepared right for that match.”
Murphy was taken down twice in the Ironman. And in the Sac-Joaquin Section semifinals, Elk Grove’s Max Baker reversed him. But in no other high school match this season did Murphy allow an offensive point.
“This area’s become quite a wrestling hotbed, “Central Catholic coach Steve Strange said. “But Billy Murphy still stands by himself.”
His training began last summer, when he participated in an intense wrestling camp in Ukraine. Murphy’s workout partner for much of that time was Elbrus Tedeyev, who defeated Jamill Kelly of Atwater for an Olympic gold medal in Athens in 2004.
“He took me down about 1,000 times, “Murphy said. “Then, I got him once. It was a good shot. And I didn’t see too much of him after that.”
Working out with Tedeyev told Murphy he has much more work to do if he wants to accomplish his life goal: competing in the Olympics.
The foundation has been set through his high school career. Preparing for state, he worked out against Porter ” a two-time state champion for Hughson in the early 1990s ” and Oakdale 112-pounder Trevor Machado-Ching and Oakdale coach Brian Stevens.
“I owe a lot to all of them, “Murphy said. “And I owe a lot to everybody who’s had me in their prayers.”
The next building block comes when he leaves for Virginia Tech, to be coached by 1996 Olympic gold medalist Tom Brands.
“I can’t wait, “Murphy said. “It’s another step.”
He’s had few problems so far.
Wrestling Gear
