Alex Dieringer locks up a gutwrench on an opponent during the freestyle competition at the Junior National Championships. John Sachs photo

Alex Dieringer entered the 2009 Wisconsin State Championships as an undefeated sophomore at 125 pounds from a strong wrestling program at Port Washington High School.  He won the state title at 103 pounds the previous year, and was practically considered a lock to win his second title.

Just as anyone would have expected, Dieringer reached the finals, and dominated his opponent early on in the championship match. However, his opponent hung around late in the match before the unthinkable happened.

“He was really taking it to the kid,” said Duffy Brelsford, assistant coach at Port Washington and Wisconsin National Junior Wrestling Director. “The kid took Alex down with 30 seconds left, and Alex just kind of froze.  He had not been in that position all year and didn’t respond.”

Dieringer went on to lose the match and the State Championship 7-6 in front of a stunned crowed. However, this experience drove Dieringer to make sure it would not occur again.

“It was a real big turning point,” said the 18 year old graduate of Port Washington.  “I went back to the drawing board, got better workout partners and really worked on staying calm during my matches.”
Brelsford believes that the loss really ignited a fire in Dieringer and is a reason for much of his success ever since.

“He learned a lot from that match,” said Brelsford.  “He learned that bad things are going to happen out there, and how to respond to them. He really focused in on executing his moves after that and not so much winning and losing.”

Dieringer did a lot more winning than losing after that.
Later that same year Dieringer won both the Cadet Greco-Roman and the Cadet Freestyle National Championships here in Fargo at 130 pounds and 135 pounds respectively. He went on to win Wisconsin State Championships in his final two years of high school, with an astonishing record of 172-4. He became Port Washington’s first ever two-time state champion.

“It felt really good to represent my team like that,” Dieringer about setting his high school records.  “All my hard work had paid off.”

He won a Junior National Freestyle title last year at 145 pounds. Dieringer is back in Fargo this year to try to win a double title. He won the 2011 Junior Greco-Roman National title at 152 pounds earlier this week and is now competing for the Junior Freestyle National Championship at 160 pounds.

“If I keep my head in it I can win it,” said Dieringer.  “I want to always stay in real good position and always make sure I am moving forward.”

Because he is wrestling up a weight class at 160 pounds, Brelsford believes that Dieringer will have a very competitive path to the finals.

“He’s probably one of the smallest guys in his weight class,” said Brelsford.  “He has moved up weight classes every year he has competed, so it will probably be similar to other tournaments he has wrestled.  There are a lot of good wrestlers here though.  He will have to be very competitive.”

But Dieringer knows that what he may lack in size against his 160 pound opponents he will make up with his technique.

“As long as I stay in good position against these guys, I’ll be fine,” said Dieringer.  “Every year I have moved up so I know what it’s like.”
Brelsford acknowledged that Dieringer’s success at the national level has brought a lot of notoriety to the state of Wisconsin, but that he has never let the success go to his head.

“He is never overly high and never overly low,” said Brelsford.  “He is a very even keyed person.”

Dieringer admits that the level-headed aspect of his personality is one of the many values he learned from his parents.

“My parents have taught me so much and I owe a lot to them,” said Dieringer.  “My mom has done everything for me.”

Brelsford also noted on the importance of Dieringer’s family life.
“[Dieringer’s parents] have never put any pressure on him,” said Brelsford.  “They taught him that if he gets beat, he gets beat, and the sun still comes up tomorrow.”

Dieringer’s family is so dedicated to the wrestling careers of their sons that they even turned their garage into a wrestling room.

“They park the car in the driveway and have a wrestling mat in the garage,” Brelsford said.  “All of Alex’s brothers wrestle so they turn a lot of the trips to his matches into mini-vacations.”

Aside from his parents, Dieringer’s head coach at Port Washington, Angelo LaRosa has also had a profound impact on his historic high school career.

“He has done so much for me,” Dieringer said of LaRosa.  “He is in there drilling with me every day and has helped me so much.  He even took me to watch the NCAA’s with him.”

Brelsford was the head coach at Port Washington High School for years, before stepping down and assuming his current assistant coaching role he still has today.  The year Brelsford retired is the same year that Dieringer and LaRosa entered the Wisconsin high school spotlight.

“He [LaRosa] is the guy that is really responsible for most of Alex’s success,” said Brelsford.  “He is always wrestling with him and deserves a lot of credit.  Unfortunately he couldn’t make the trip out this year.”

Even Dieringer making the trip out to Fargo may have surprised some. Often, graduated seniors who have similar success as Dieringerand are already committed to a college, choose not to participate in this tournament.

But Dieringer’s passion for the sport has brought him back for a run at yet another national championship.

“I want to make sure that I’m training year round in both Greco and Freestyle,” said Dieringer.  “This tournament is a great place to do that at.”

Brelsford believes that Dieringer chose to compete for the sake of his love for competition, and possibly to end his competitive high school career on a higher note.

“He went to the Dapper Dan tournament and lost to a very good wrestler from Pennsylvania 7-2,” said Brelsford.  “It made him very, very mad to get beat like that, and instilled a fire in him.  He did not want to end it that way.”

With one 2011 National title in the books, Dieringer has already added to what is already an incredible high school career and would have had a fitting ending for it all if he wanted.

But Dieringer has his sights set on another Junior Freestyle National Championship and an ending to a historic career that he can truly be proud of.

His wrestling path will continue in the fall down South to Stillwater, Oklahoma where Dieringer will compete for the Oklahoma State Cowboys and their legendary coach John Smith.

“He has a great passion for wrestling and wrestles with little fear,” said Smith who has coached over 100 NCAA Division 1 All Americans.  “He has a good family and a good environment to work in. There is a lot I see in him that I like.”

Just hearing Smith’s name makes Dieringer happy that he has the chance to wrestle for such a storied coach and program.

“He is the best coach in the nation and their program’s history is amazing,” said Dieringer.  “I’m really excited to start training there.”

Dieringer is setting his goals high and hopes to be a multiple NCAA National Champion.

“I’ll start with taking just one though,” Dieringer said with a smile.
Brelsford believes that a lot of Dieringer’s potential success in college will rest on how he handles being so far away from home.
“I think he will definitely improve under John Smith,” said Brelsford.  “But I think he has to make sure he handles his grades and other things well being so far away from home and out of his comfortable environment.”

While the future looks bright for Dieringer, he still has some business to take care of here in Fargo, where he is already off to a stellar start in the 2011 Junior Freestyle National Championships.
Dieringer is currently undefeated wrestling in Pool A of the 160 pound weight class with a 9-0 record, including 3 technical falls, 2 pins and 4 decisions.  He will look to continue his quest for yet another National title in Friday night’s session by earning a spot into the finals on Saturday morning.

The accomplishments that Dieringer has accumulated over his amazing high school career did not come without sacrifice though.

“As far as training goes, Alex has invested a lot of money in the bank,” said Brelsford.  “He has been constantly reaping the benefits.”

If Dieringer’s training was really “money in the bank” then he would be a billionaire.  And if he continues investing in his training the way he has throughout high school, then he will continue to enrich his achievements on the next level.