STATE CHAMPS x 3: Taylor, Decatur-Luker win individual titles; RHS claims team crown

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on February 21, 2016 12:06 PM

• Print
• Email

GREENSBORO -- Rosewood added another team state title to its trophy case and two wrestlers emerged as individual state champions during the season-ending N.C. High School Athletic Association individual wrestling championships on Saturday.

The Eagles claimed the team title with 82 points -- four more than runner-up Rosman. Mitchell, which lost to Rosewood in the dual-team state finals, ended up third with 76 points. Robbinsville (56) and Mt. Airy (54) completed the top five.

RHS senior Kaleb Taylor successfully defended his state 1-A heavyweight title, while Timothy Decatur-Luker -- a freshman -- won the 106-pound state crown.

Taylor, the No. 1 eastern seed, upended East Montgomery's Colby Robinson, 5-2, in the title match. A four-year varsity starter, Taylor became the second wrestler in RHS history to finish the season unbeaten along with Nick Quillen, who was the program's first two-time state champion.

The No. 3 seed from the east, Decatur-Luker began his title run with a major decision over East Wilkes' Chimeco Barber in the quarterfinals. He recorded a third-period fall (5 minutes, 35 seconds) over eastern regional champ Alpha Barrow of Pender.

Decatur-Luker and South Stanly's Levi Carpenter, the western regional champ, battled to a 0-0 draw after one period in their championship bout. Carpenter took the bottom position to start the second period and pinned Carpenter with 49 seconds remaining.

Princeton's Michael Daughtry fell in the 145-pound title match to Cherokee's Anthony Toineeta by a 5-4 count.

For complete details, see Monday's edition of the News-Argus.