InterMat caught up with Dieringer and talked to him about his recent match against Joey Davis, Olympic aspirations, Oklahoma State's title chances in 2016 and much more.
Alex Dieringer finished his junior season with a 33-0 record (Photo/Rob Preston)Dieringer: I knew I was going to have to feel him out a little bit because his style and my style are kind of different. I like to tie up. He likes to stay in space. So I kind of had to get position and inch my way forward towards him, and eventually get my ties and score. I ended up getting a score in the second period, so I kind of started slow, but eventually I got where I needed to be.
Was he bigger than you?
Dieringer: Oh yeah. He was definitely bigger than me. I was weighing light recently. I'm usually like 187 or something like that, but I've been weighing like 178, 180, so I weighed two pounds under at the weigh-in, and he was cutting a little bit.
How do you think Davis would fare if he was a Division I wrestler?
Dieringer: I think he would be successful. He's good. He's technical. He's a really smart wrestler. Obviously, he probably wouldn't be undefeated or have three national titles. But I think he would definitely fare well, and have at least a couple All-American statuses.
Alex Dieringer defeated Taylor Walsh to claim his second straight NCAA title (Photo/Josh Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)Dieringer: I would definitely have to say the mental aspect. Once you reach the top it can either make you or break you. You can either let people catch up to you or not have the mindset. I used my first championship to widen my gaps and just get better and better ... not only mentally, but physically too. Once I won my first one I realized that I should be able to widen the gaps and win by a bigger margin to help the team more.
You had more pins this past season than Logan Stieber and more bonus-point victories than any of the Dan Hodge Trophy finalists. Did you feel at all slighted by not winning the Dan Hodge Trophy?
Dieringer: It goes over the year, not over career performance. I could see how they could have given it to me. We were close. We were about even in everything. He had more tech. falls than me. I don't know. He smashed the voting, but I would say we're pretty close overall. You can't take anything away from him.
Alex Dieringer hugs coaches John Smith and Eric Guerrero after winning the title (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)Dieringer: I sat down and talked to Coach. He really didn't harp on it this year. I wouldn't have minded doing it, but I've got one more year of college. I just kind of want to get that over with and then really, really focus on my international career. I'm going to go as long as I can with that ... at least until 2020, and then if my body and is still holding up and I'm strong, I'll go until 2024. That's my goal.
With 2016 being an Olympic year, did you contemplate taking an Olympic redshirt season in 2015-16?
Dieringer: No. People have asked me about it before, but I never thought about that. We have a good chance of winning it as a team. But I'm just going to go straight into it and finish my college career first, and then worry about my international career. In 2016, I'm going to be ready because I'm going to go through a college season, take a week off, and then get back to it. I'll already be in better shape than I would have been after an international season.
Do you see yourself better suited for freestyle or folkstyle?
Dieringer: I would say I'm better at freestyle. I have a better feel for it. I've always liked freestyle more. I took second at Junior Worlds. I'm really big into freestyle. I love it.
Right now do you think you're on the level of the top U.S. freestyle wrestlers at 74 kilos, Jordan Burroughs, Kyle Dake, David Taylor and Andrew Howe?
Dieringer: Yeah, I'm fifth on the ladder right now, and I have a feeling I can beat those guys. That's just my self-belief. You have to be positive and think that way in order to do it. I definitely think I can wrestle with those guys and beat them.
Alex Dieringer gets his hand raised after defeating Jackson Morse of Illinois in the quarterfinals of the 2015 NCAAs (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)Dieringer: Attacking more. Sometimes I get cautious against the top guys. I think I just need to stick with my style and keep attacking.
Oklahoma State returns eight of nine NCAA qualifiers, plus other talented wrestlers who will be vying for spots in the lineup. Will anything less than an NCAA team title be a disappointment in 2016?
Dieringer: No doubt. I've never seen Coach so confident. He has never talked like this before. I'm really confident just because he's so confident. He's a realist. He's very honest about everything. He actually said we are going to win a national title next year. That makes us more confident.
This past weekend Anthony Collica had an impressive run through the University Nationals freestyle competition, beating the two highest returning NCAA placers at 149 pounds. This year he wrestled 157 pounds. Do you see him better suited for 149 pounds?
Dieringer: I have a feeling he's going to win it at 149, to be honest. He's a force. I wrestle with him. He's really, really tough. He's hard to score on. He's going to be two weights lower than me, so I can imagine he's going to do some damage there.
Chance Marsteller has talked about you have helped him tremendously in his progression as a wrestler. How is he progressing?
Dieringer: It's mostly mental. He has always had the talent, but didn't have it mentally. I think I really helped him there. I talked to him a lot about it. I think that was the biggest thing because he always had the talent. He was a four-time undefeated PA state champ. More than just that, he accomplished a lot of other things. So I think his biggest problem was his mental game, and I think he's worked on that. You can see it in the practice room.
Marsteller started the season at 157 pounds and moved up to 165 pounds. What weight will he wrestle this coming season?
Dieringer: He's going 157 as of right now.
Oklahoma State wrestlers have found a lot of success in MMA. Daniel Cormier is the UFC light heavyweight champion. Johny Hendricks was previously the UFC welterweight champion. Steve Mocco is competing in World Series of Fighting. Is MMA something you would ever consider perusing?
Dieringer: No. I think I'm going to stick with wrestling. That's what I do best. I think I could transition over pretty well, and there's a lot of money there. But I want to help the sport of wrestling more than anything. It's what made me who I am today, so I'm going to give everything back to this sport.
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