It’s all Dieringer this time

palatino color=#5469ab>One year after near miss, Port junior pins down his second state championship

Mission accomplished.

One year after falling short in his quest for a second state wrestling title, Port Washington’s Alex Dieringer stormed his way to the top at the WIAA Division 1 individual finals last Saturday.

The junior capped a 45-1 season by rolling through the 140-pound field at the Kohl Center in Madison. His four-match flurry culminated in a 5-1 victory over Wisconsin Rapids’ Rylan Lubeck in the title match.

“Last year, when I lost in the finals, I made up my mind to work harder and win it this time,” said Dieringer, who took second at 125 pounds in Division 2 as a sophomore after winning the 103-pound crown in Division 1 in 2008.

“I just had to get back to wrestling my style. I had to be aggressive and smart.”

Dieringer was certainly both.

He faced a tough foe in Lubeck, a sophomore who finished the season 48-4, but had little trouble controlling the match. After scoring a first-period takedown, Dieringer tacked on a second-period escape and kept Lubeck off balance until the final horn.

“I knew Rylan was the best wrestler I was going to face in the tournament, so I was prepared for him,” Dieringer said. “I thought he would be in the finals against me.”

Dieringer, who improved his career record to 128-4, had an easier time on his way to the final. After opening the three-day tournament with a 15-1 win over Hortonville’s Kegan Gennrich, he blanked River Falls’ Cam Loomis, 11-0.

In the semifinals, Dieringer pinned Wilmot Union’s Matthew Gray in 3 minutes, 41 seconds.

“Alex just dominated the field,” Port coach Alex LaRosa said. “It was 5-1 in the final, but the match was really one-sided.

“It was awesome. Alex’s been on a mission since last year, and he wasn’t going to be denied this time.”

The biggest challenge for Dieringer, according to LaRosa, was making sure he stayed focused on one opponent at a time.

“We talked about concentrating on each guy he went up against rather than looking forward to wrestling Lubeck,” LaRosa said. “That was the only thing I was concerned about.”

LaRosa and his assistant coaches were also paying attention to two other Port wrestlers who reached the state level — junior Justin Meins (125) and senior Ryan Wischer (152), who both made their first appearances in Madison.

Meins had a solid tournament and finished fourth in a weight class dominated by Germantown’s Jesse Thielke, who won his third straight title.

Meins (37-8) won his first two matches — defeating Middleton’s Nate Misenheimer, 7-6, and Wisconsin Rapids’ Ben Westover, 8-6 — before facing Thielke in the semifinals.

Thielke prevailed, 17-3, with a performance LaRosa described as “the best I’ve ever seen him wrestle.”

“Thielke is just a stud,” LaRosa said. “He’s like Alex. He wasn’t going to lose to anyone.”

Meins showed his mettle by shaking off the loss to win his first match in the consolation round. He defeated Ashwaubenon’s Chad Stuiber, 10-8, to reach the third-place final, a rematch against Westover.

This time, Westover (40-7) got his revenge with a 3-2 win.

“The matches in the consolation round are shorter time periods, and that didn’t help Justin,” LaRosa said. “He usually wears down his opponents because he’s so well-conditioned, but the format didn’t allow him to do that.

“But Justin had an awesome tournament and a great season. It was a nice reward for all his hard work, and it should motivate him to make it back there next year.”

Wischer took the mat in Madison after a whirlwind series of events that had him replacing another state qualifier who couldn’t participate.

On Wednesday, the day before the tournament started, LaRosa received a phone call from the father of Neenah’s Sam McGinnis, who defeated Wischer in a sectional meet the previous Saturday on his way to a state berth. LaRosa was told
McGinnis wouldn’t be able to wrestle in Madison due to illness, opening the door for Wischer, who finished third at the sectional, one place behind McGinnis.

After WIAA officials confirmed McGinnis’ absence, Wischer was added to the 152-pound field. Although Wischer’s state dream ended with a 1-0 loss in the first round to Mukwonago’s Ryan Aprahamian, it was an experience the Port wrestler won’t
forget, LaRosa said.

“At first, Ryan was disappointed to just miss qualifying for state, but then he was thrilled to get the chance,” LaRosa said. “Just to be there was great for him and everybody who knows him.”

Wischer, who LaRosa called one of the Pirates’ hardest-working wrestlers, finished the season 30-15.

 

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IT WAS CELEBRATION TIME for Port Washington’s Alex Dieringer after he won the 140-pound title in the WIAA Division 1 state individual wrestling tournament last Saturday. The junior’s four tournament victories included a 5-1 decision over Wisconsin Rapids’ Rylan Lubeck in the final. Photo by Diane Kinzer