Takedown Report

Decatur brothers make wrestling dream a reality

TDR Editor’s Notes ; Eastern North Carolina wrestlers will be back wrestling together again next season as they join up with the successful Division II program Newberry College in South Carolina. Wrestling fans in the TDR coverage area will have to travel a bit farther in order to cheer them on in person next year. We wish them the best of success in their wrestling and in their studies in the coming years as they Keep on wrestling! Blog # 2944 (7/22/21)
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Wrestling champions and brothers Timothy and Christian Decatur, who have risen as formidable opponents on the mat, will be able to achieve a long-held dream of competing on the same team in college. The brothers are three-time high school state wrestling champions, and each earned All-American status during their time in high school. Timothy graduated from Rosewood High School in 2019 and finished with a record of 236-8. He finished 57-1 his senior season, which at the time was the state record for total wins in a season.

Christian attended C.B. Aycock High and graduated in 2020 with a career record of 238-10, and finished his senior year with a record of 63-0 to beat his brother’s record for the most wins in a season.

Growing up together and being just 15 months apart in age, the Decatur brothers were always very competitive in everything they did.

Timothy said that competing against one another was one of their favorite things to do to have fun when they were growing up. “(Competing against one another) is pretty much all we would do,” Timothy said.

Christian agreed. “Yeah, literally every single thing we do, we are competitive about,” he said. Wrestling was just one of many sports in which they competed against each other through the years. The brothers also enjoyed playing basketball, football, baseball and soccer.

Christian said that he remembers in middle school when he and his brother were trying to decide which of their two favorite sports — basketball or football — they wanted to focus their time and energy on. Christian, who is 5-foot-3-inches tall, said he and his brother Timothy, who is 5-foot-5-inches in height, ultimately chose to focus on wrestling because of their height.

“I remember our grandma asking us if we wanted to wrestle or play basketball, and we were short so we said that we wanted to focus on wrestling,” Christian said. By the time Timothy and Christian were both in high school, after years of wrestling in middle school and practicing privately with one another, they both began to dominate in their weight classes.

Christian said that when they were both performing well in high school they began to think about the possibility of wrestling together for the same team at the collegiate level. “We kind of planned it in high school,” Christian said. “We were like, ‘All right, we are going to wrestle together at the next level.’ ”

After graduating in 2019, Timothy was the first to join a collegiate wrestling program. He chose to wrestle for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he stayed at the 133 weight class, which was close to the 132 weight class he wrestled at during his senior year at Rosewood High.

Christian graduated the following year from C.B. Aycock High where he wrestled at the 113 and 120 weight classes. Christian originally wanted to sign with UNC-Chapel Hill when he graduated, but at the time, the UNC-Chapel Hill head wrestling coach wanted his brother Timothy to move down to wrestle at the 125 weight class, which would place them in the same weight class.

In order to avoid having to compete with this brother for the same spot on the team, Christian ultimately decided to attend the University of North Carolina at Pembroke.

After a year apart from one another, the brothers missed being together and competing with one another, so they began looking at schools that would offer them the opportunity to wrestle together.

They found the school they were looking for in Newberry College — a top-ten ranked Division 2 wrestling program in South Carolina. The Decaturs signed letters of intent to play at Newberry in May. … rest of story at https://www.newsargus.com/news/local/decatur-brothers-make-wrestling-dream-a-reality/article_ff5e7ea2-03db-5112-b717-9b513d55337b.html?mc_cid=cbfa48fa54&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

July 22, 2021 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized