While it was rare for Jantzen not to have his arm raised by the referee after a match, Torriero saw how losses affected Jantzen. “His high school career was nothing I or anyone else could have dreamed of,” said Don Jantzen.Īlthough it didn’t happen much and he tried to keep his composure in public when it did happen, Jesse Jantzen said he didn’t handle losing well early on. It was the start of a wondrous time for Jantzen and the Wildcats. Jesse Jantzen won that bout, capping a 28-2 season that saw him become the first seventh-grader to win a Suffolk championship. “The guy he’s wrestling really looks like a man.” NEWS-REVIEW FILE PHOTO | Jantzen, seen here in a MaNews-Review photo, would win 221 matches in high school, then a Long Island record. “I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I hope he doesn’t break him,” Don Jantzen said. It might have been with a little concern that Don Jantzen watched 12-year-old Jesse, wearing braces, step on the mat in the match for third place at 96 pounds. He was ready for the state and national level when he was a seventh-grader.”ĭon Jantzen, who was an assistant coach for the Wildcats at the time, kept a watchful eye over his seventh-grade son in the state tournament in 1995. He was ready for the varsity level when he was a third-, fourth-grader. “As we got older, we went to bigger and bigger tournaments,” Torriero said, “They seemed to get tougher and tougher for me, and easier and easier for him. When he was in seventh grade, he skipped middle school wrestling and was bumped right up to the varsity team. No matter how hard you work, he’s working a little bit harder than you.” Dan Miracola, a former Shoreham teammate of Jantzen’s, said: “He puts so much time in. Post, and then coached Comsewogue and Shoreham-Wading River.ĭescribed as fanatical about his workouts, Jesse Jantzen was determined not to be outworked by any opponent. “He got to see the Mickey Mantles of wrestling,” said Don Jantzen.Īnd then there was instruction from Don Jantzen himself, a 1972 county champion for Comsewogue who later wrestled at C.W. He attended clinics and camps that featured accomplished wrestlers like Olympic gold medalists Dan Gable and Kevin Jackson. Meanwhile, he was being exposed to top-notch instruction. By the time he was 9 years old, he won a state freestyle tournament. As a wrestler for Mount Sinai, Broglie became a Suffolk County champion. Torriero would go on to become a high school all-American for Rocky Point and then a wrestler at West Virginia. Those two were part of quite a training trio at the time along with Steve Broglie. It was there where he met his future best friend, Mike Torriero. Jesse Jantzen was introduced to the sport that his name later became synonymous with as a youngster around kindergarten age when his father brought him to a kid wrestling session at Rocky Point High School. The Greatest Athletes countdown continues Tueesday with No. His wrestling exploits are legend and his name became nationally known. With the notable exception of a place on the United States Olympic team, Jantzen squeezed about as much as he could out of a full wrestling career. New York had never seen a high school wrestler like him before. “There’s always someone who’s better than you.” “I never thought I was good enough to act any other way, to be honest with you,” he said. Jantzen, 29, can trace his humility to his parents, Don and Deborah. It can be a delicate balance, to be sure, but Jantzen found the right mix. A wrestler needs humility, confidence and a healthy balance between the two. Humility, as well as confidence, played a role in all of that. He was a World University Games champion. He became a three-time all-American and an NCAA Division I champion at Harvard University. He was the state’s winningest wrestler at the time of his high school graduation. The former Shoreham-Wading River High School star was a four-time New York State champion. Jantzen was a dominant force on the wrestling mat. That only makes his appreciation of humility all the more impressive. Shortcomings? Jantzen didn’t have many of those. You have to know what your shortcomings are.” “You can be confident, but need to be confident with a certain level of humility. “I think you need to be humble in your life,” Jantzen said. Of all the moves, all the skills and all the talents that Jesse Jantzen acquired over the course of his great wrestling career, it might come as a surprise to hear what he considered to be the most valuable tool in his toolbox: humility. He went on to win a national title at Harvard. Share via email Mail Created with Sketch.ĬOURTESY PHOTO | Jesse Jantzen was the first-ever four-time state wrestling champion in Suffolk history. Share on Twitter Twitter Created with Sketch.Share on Facebook Facebook Created with Sketch.
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