Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 9, 1991 TAG: 9102090354
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: HILLSVILLE LENGTH: Medium
It's more difficult to distinguish between two of the Cavaliers' better wrestlers - Chad and Chris Dillon.
Until last weekend, both were unbeaten and each had given up but two points in his weight class. Then the identical twins came up against perennial Group AA power Grundy.
Chris beat Greg Deel in the 140-pound class to run his record to 22-0, but Chad dropped to 22-1 at 145 after losing to Chris Childress, the Golden Wave wrestler who beat him in last year's Region IV championship match.
Chad went to the state meet in 1990 while his brother had to watch from the sideline. Now it's Chris who is unbeaten while Chad has a loss on his record.
"Everything they do, when it comes to sports, is so close that it's scary," said Carroll County coach Wayne Scott, whose team finished the regular season with a 19-3 record and the New River District title. "Even their record through the years is within four matches as far as won-lost.
"If someone came to me and asked who is the best of the two because they were going to offer a scholarship, I couldn't make a decision between them."
After their 1991 records took different turns against Grundy, the two came back against Christiansburg and pinned their opponents in the same time of 52 seconds.
"Sometimes you think one is better than the other, but when you get out there, it's hard to tell," Scott said. "During the week, Chad seems to be more intense, have the upper hand. Then the next week, it's Chris."
The only real difference is their size. Chris, who was born first, is five pounds lighter. "He had pneumonia when he was younger, and he's always been a little smaller," said the coach. "So they never had to avoid each other in the same weight class."
But they don't wear the same clothes. "We've always tried to stay away from the same clothes because we don't like to be compared to each other," said Chad.
Chris said, "We've always been separate in school. We hang around with each other, but we're not usually in the same classes."
They do have a keen sense of competition against one another. While the two might seem to be good partners in working on holds at home because of their similar weights, it doesn't work out that way.
"They're very competitive with each other as much as they are with the rest of the team," said Ione Dillon, the twins' mother. "They have big battles at home and their father [Robert Dillon] tries to keep them where they don't get too big for their britches."
"At home it starts out as wrestling. We practice some. After a while it's more than wrestling. It gets real competitive," said Chad Dillon.
Until their ninth grade year, they had never thought about becoming wrestlers.
"An assistant coach [Alvin Davidson] who had us in gym class in ninth grade got us to come out," said Chad.
Chris said, "I had never heard of it [wrestling in high school]. I knew there was a difference [from pro wrestling]."
They got into wrestling because they had not found success in other activities such as Little League baseball and sandlot football, their mother said.
Wrestling didn't go well at first. Chad was 1-3 on the junior varsity as a freshman, and Chris didn't wrestle in a match.
"We were getting better at the end of the year," said Chris.
Chad added, "I had wanted to quit after a week of practice as a freshman."
That didn't happen, though. As sophomores, Chad went to the state meet and Chris was sixth in the region.
"Going to the state got me into the sport real good," said Chad. "I knew this was something I could be really good at."
Wrestling has done something else for the twins. It has given them a renewed interest in academics. They both hope to go to college to continue their wrestling, possibly with each other.
"I've started trying to keep my grades up high," said Chris. "I'm a C-B student since figuring I want to go further in wrestling."
Chad said, "Both of us have a 3.0 [B average] since the first of this year. Last year I was at 2.5, but I've tried to improve to go to college."
First there is a matter of making their way through the tournaments that start with the district competition this weekend, ending with the Group AA meet two weeks from now in Harrisonburg.
by CNB