Alex Neuberger decided try wrestling to get into better shape for track in eighth grade.
Her priorities shifted after that year.
“Hated track,” she said. “Absolutely loved wrestling.”
She has played other sports at Ewing High School, doing field hockey and flag football as well, but her love for wrestling has only grown over the years. The Blue Devils senior will graduate with three straight Colonial Valley Conference Girls Tournament individual crowns, the final one won with a pin over Milene Rios Ordonez to capture the 152-pound title at the end of January.
“The tournament’s only been around for three years,” said Ewing coach DJ Zedalis. “I wish she could have been one of the first four-time champs, but she’s one of the first three-time champs.”
Neuberger is looking to add more accolades with the start of the District 8 tournament at Trenton on March 1 with qualifiers advancing to the Central Region tournament the next week in East Brunswick and the ultimate goal of a Tournament of Champions berth in Atlantic City on the line if she can finish in the top three at regions.
“I am so starving for it,” Neuberger said. “I wanted to get it the first three years and now we have a district and it’s harder. I really want to get to states this year.”
Last year, she came three wins away from a state berth in regions bowing out in the wrestleback first round after falling in the quarterfinals. She has experience and motivation to close her final scholastic year on a high note. She’s already won 64 bouts in her career going into districts, including the trio of CVC crowns.
“The amount of work she’s put in since her sophomore year has been tremendous,” Zedalis said. “And if there’s anybody who deserved it more than her, I’d like to see them in the practice room.”
Neuberger worked her way up to being a dominant wrestler for Ewing. She wasn’t as successful in eighth grade in her first CVC middle school tournament. Two years later she started to build her legacy at the high school level, and her early success added to the pressure she felt coming into this season’s tournament. She lived up to her top seeding and expectations, and each year has beaten a different girl for the gold.
“It’s surreal because I wrestled in the CVC tournament in eighth grade and I went 0 and 2 and I remember being so mad,” she said. “And then coming here and it’s just really crazy honestly. To hear, ‘three-time,’ I’m like, ‘Oh wait, that’s me.’ It’s really cool.”
Neuberger has progressed steadily each year, finding a passion for the sport that her father once competed in. She came in as a freshman and wrestled a few boys in her first two years before the girls division became more established. It gave her experience and helped shape her growth as a wrestler.
“I think that’s what really helped her on the girls’ side, kind of seeing the strength and the power of the boys,” Zedalis said. “And then she would get caught with the flexibility of some of the girls. So being able to kind of see both aspects of it, I think really helped her drive to kind of put both together.”
Neuberger became a regular in the weight room over summers. She attended every open practice run by the Ewing volunteers.
“There’s never a time where she wasn’t fully invested into this team and into herself,” Zedalis said. “I think she really focused on technique her junior year. And now this year, everything’s finally coming together for her.”
Working on technique the last two years has made a difference. And her strength from her weight room dedication also helped give her a foundation for success.
“I’m somewhat stronger than a lot of my opponents, so I tend to just outmuscle them,” Neuberger said. “And then when I found another girl just as strong as me, I learned that it did not work. So I’ve really been trying to build up my move vocabulary. Play wrestling really helps because I like situational stuff.”
Neuberger won 16 of her first 20 matches this year. She’s been a key role model for younger Ewing wrestlers, and part of a strong senior group that includes Ray Kamara at 145, Angie Fuentes at 138 and Jaylyn Jared at 132.
“Alex has been great for the underclassmen like Danielle Narmah, who’s had a really impressive showing and is beating some really tough girls and taking some really tough girls to the end,” said Zedalis. “Kayla Kerr, our 235-pounder, she pushes her in practice too, even giving up a lot of weight, but she offers Kayla that speed and agility to make her quicker on her feet. She’s almost like having another coach in the room at this point because she knows just about as much as we know and is able to kind of pick up on the little things that we’re mentioning. So, whenever we’re occupied with the boys or another group of girls and she sees one of her teammates struggling, she’ll go over to that group and kind of pinpoint what they’re doing wrong and fix that move to a T.”
Ewing will send its boys into districts the day before the girls. The best chances to place sit with Cephus Horton, a senior who has impressed all season against tough competition, and junior Bryce Whittkop. Their experience has helped a young Ewing boys team grow and districts will give a final chance this season.
“If I show up with seven guys, realistically we’re not going to win a district title,” Zedalis said. “We’re just kind of focusing on the individual aspect right now. And I think we’ve got a shot of having a few guys make some noise and shake some things up.”
Neuberger has tried to help the Ewing wrestling program any way she can. She has dabbled in other sports, but gravitated to wrestling because it provided her a physical outlet that other sports could not. She even tried jiu jitsu this year and enjoyed that for its physical side. Seeing the girls wrestling program at the school and the sport grow through her years has brightened Neuberger’s experience. She has been a part of so many firsts with the Blue Devils.
“It’s actually amazing because my dream freshman year was to be captain of the girls wrestling team,” she said. “We had a whopping four girls and junior year we had a full lineup and I walked out as captain for our first dual meet and it was insane. Having a team districts, I wrestled at the inaugural CVC, I’m about to wrestle with the inaugural growth districts, and the jamborees, there was the first-ever jamboree my freshman year. I had my first-ever girls match freshman year. It was amazing. It just feels awesome.”
Neuberger’s development on the mat is a result of her work and desire to learn. It’s the same off it. She is interested in a career in the medical field, and often her curiosity has her doing research on her own about medical questions, not that she has a lot of free time between her school and wrestling commitments and a job as a manager at Five Guys and helping her father’s friend with his woodworking projects and cleaning the shop. When she can, she loves going to beach.
“I just kind of hang out with my friends a lot when I have the time,” she said. “But a lot of the time it’s taken up with sports and work.”
She has been looking at a number of options for next year. Her top priority is a college where she can pursue her interest in the medical field. One of her options is Lehigh, which has a women’s wrestling team.
“It’s the only school I’ve really looked at where I was interested in the actual school and the wrestling program,” Neuberger said. “Truth being told, I’m not sure what programs have girls things these days.”
Neuberger would love the opportunity to continue to compete in the sport that has meant so much to her. It started out as just a chance to improve her fitness and it’s become something that she’s carried into all parts of her life.
“Wrestling makes everything else feel so much easier,” she said. “It has made me so much stronger and given me so much commitment in everything I do. Every other sport I go to, I think about a wrestling practice. Every time I have to do an assignment, I think about how late a tournament night could be or how MCTs went to like 11:30, I think, the first year. Crazy. Wrestling, as fun as it is, it’s so tough. It just makes everything else feel so much lighter.”
EHS wrestler Alex Neuberger shakes hands with an opponent.,
