Slippery Rock senior Doerflinger turning late comeback to wrestling into promising collegiate career
SLIPPERY ROCK — Following in her older brother’s footsteps, Lexi Doerflinger took up wrestling in elementary school for a couple of years.
Her brother Mike, a 2018 Slippery Rock High School graduate, stayed with the sport and wound up wrestling for the Rockets. Lexi did pursue wrestling after those elementary seasons.
“Just moved on to other things,” she said. “But I still followed it. Mike was wrestling, then my younger brother (Hunter) got into it. It was fun watching those guys.”
Hunter was 15-19 as a freshman 121-127-pound wrestler for Slippery Rock this past season.
Prior to her junior year in high school, one of Lexi’s female friends wanted to go out for the team and asked Lexi to join her.
“I figured it’d be fun to try it again after all those years,” Lexi said. “Once I got back on the mat ... I forgot how much I loved doing it.”
Her friend was unable to stay with wrestling, but Lexi wound up with an 18-14 record her junior season, competing at 107 or 114 pounds. While 11 of those wins were by forfeit, she did pin five opponents.
Lexi’s two-year varsity career with the Rockets produced 32 wins, 28 losses, eight wins by pinfall and 17 by forfeit.
“It never bothered me wrestling against guys,” she said. “That’s always been the norm for me and wrestling. Growing up with two brothers was part of that.”
“One of the most valuable assets a high school wrestler can have is coach-ability,” Slippery Rock High School coach Denton Zeronas said. “The fact Lexi had not competed for all those years,. she paid particular attention in the room.
“We’d find a flaw in something she was doing, we’d fix it. She takes to coaching well. She listens. Her fundamentals improved so quickly as a result. All young wrestlers should do that. She was a pleasure to work with.”
Lexi did wind up competing in girls tournaments — and faring quite well. She was 11-4 with six pins against female competition the past two years.
“I wrestled against a couple of girls in high school matches, but it was mostly tournamernts,” she said. “I enjoy the competition and getting a chance to wrestle at m,y natural weight.”
Female tournaments have a 100-pound weight class that Lexi competes in. She routinely gave up 10 to 12 pounds during her high school matches.
She placed second in the girls state tourney at Central Dauphin High School her junior year and was fourth at the state tourney this year.
After just two years of high school wrestling, Lexi plans to continue her mat career in college. Her top school right now is Hiram, though she is also considering Ursinus, Sacred Heart and Cedar Crest (Allentown, Pa.) She plans to visit other schools as well.
“Lexi has some natural ability and since she comes from a wrestling family, she’s part of that wrestling culture,” Zeronas said. “She’s going to keep getting better because she’s going to keep working at it.
“Just by paying attention and using what she learns, it’s impressive how much Lexi has developed as a wrestler over the past two years.”
Looking to major in criminal justice or business marketing, Lexi said she’d love to become an All-American wrestler in college.
“We’ll see where I wind up at and how I mesh with the team and stack up on the mat,” she said. “I’m realistic that way. But I’m excited to have a chance to continue developing my skills.”
