Jantzen focused on future
By Tim Tushla, W.I.N. Editor

Jantzen (right) said Harvard will have a strong team during his final two seasons.

Even after posting the best NCAA tournament performance by a Harvard wrestler in half a century, Jesse Jantzen is ready for more. Actually, he’s already followed up his third-place finish in Albany, NY with a fifth-place showing in the U.S. Senior Nationals freestyle championships in late April.

That type of success is not new to Jantzen, New York State’s first undefeated, four-time high school champion. He garnered almost every high school award in the country, including the 2000 Jr. Dan Hodge Trophy awarded to the top high school wrestler in the nation. As a true freshman in college, he qualified for the 2001 national tournament. Although he did not place, Jantzen never stopped working and wound up placing third at last year’s Open.

Jantzen’s coaches said it is his strong work ethic and the desire to excel which sets him apart from most wrestlers.

“A lot of wrestlers need a break and need to take the spring or summer off,” said Chris Horpel, coach of the Dave Schultz Wrestling Club of which Jantzen is a member. “But I would say that Jesse is one who absolutely loves to wrestle and doesn’t really need to take much time off. Consequently, he’s raring to go after the collegiate season and he’s raring to go during the summer and he takes advantage of whatever opportunity is given him.

“Whether it’s a training camp at the OTC or a competition that’s coming up, he’s game. He is a real student of the sport and he doesn’t seem to tire.”

That desire to learn and adapt is something which made a big difference for Jantzen this collegiate season, according to Harvard coach Jay Weiss. Weiss said his young star put a lot of pressure on himself to perform his first year on campus.

“He came in knowing the last time he lost was in the eighth-grade semifinal at state,” said Weiss. “When he got here, he felt he had to really change his training to be successful. I think this year he realized that he just needs to get back to training hard and training smart. The only thing we, as coaches, do is tell him when to pull back.”

Both coaches see a big future for the junior-to-be, in college and on the international scene. Horpel thinks the new 145.5-pound weight class fit Jantzen perfectly.

“He is one of the few wrestlers who probably benefited from the change in weight classes,” said Horpel. “He was again right up there this year, even though there are fewer weights and therefore more athletes stuffed into those weights. And he is getting better.”

This spring he was voted captain by his Harvard teammates.

“I’m excited about putting him in a leadership role,” said the eighth-year Crimson coach. “He is so driven. He has a plan and he stays with it.

“I just think the team is ready to really kind of jump on his shoulders. If the rest of the team is doing half of what he is doing, they’re going to be a heckuva lot better wrestlers.”

UNCENSORED: Harvard & DSWC’s Jesse Jantzen

Q: Looking back at your third-place finish at the NCAAs, what are your thoughts?

A: I was happy. My goal was to win. I fell a little short but after losing in the quarterfinals and wrestling all those matches back, I definitely was satisfied by the end of the tournament. But I was really set on winning it.

New York is my home state so I thought it would be a great thing if I could come out on top. My immediate family was all there and some other people who I am close with came up. It didn’t work out and it is going to make me work harder for the next two years to gain that title.

Q: After being recruited by most of the top wrestling schools in the country, what made you decide to go to Harvard?

A: I had a volunteer coach, Andy McNerney, who was an All-American at Harvard. I was talking with him and he said, ‘You know, you should look into Harvard’. Then I started talking to Coach Weiss and, with the rise of Harvard wrestling and the academics, I really thought it was the best combination for me.

Eventually, when I’m done striving for my wrestling goals, I want to be able to have a good job and family. Wrestling is not like a professional sport. After either the Olympics or college wrestling, you are pretty much done.

I was waiting a while for my final acceptance to Harvard, so I did look at quite a few other schools. I strongly considered Ohio State, I took a visit out to Iowa and I liked Hofstra near my home on Long Island. There were a bunch of other schools in the mix and I wasn’t sure until the last minute but, once I got accepted into Harvard I couldn’t turn it down. I really like the coaches here and I have great practice partners. That, coupled with the education you receive here, it was really a no-brainer for me. I’m really happy where I am now.

Q: You were also New York’s first four-time state champion, was there a big transition between the high school and college wrestling rooms?

A: Yes there was but I knew it was going to be tough. I used to work out with a lot of college athletes when I was in high school and I knew how good they were. It was a big jump.

My first year didn’t turn out as well as I’d have liked it to. I thought I had a good shot at being an All-American but I got injured a little bit during the year and it set me back. Add in the adjustment to school and I think it had an effect.

Q: How do you handle that mix between academics and athletics at an Ivy League school?

A: I’ve found it hasn’t been too bad, as long as I stay on a schedule and I keep up. I go in the morning and get my workout in, go to classes, do my work and go to practice in the afternoon. During the season it’s a little tough but I haven’t found it too overwhelming. The teachers here have been very helpful. I get assignments ahead of time or make it up. They understand that I am going to be away for a tournament and we meet and catch up.

I’ve been pretty disciplined about it. You have to be on the ball and keep up with your work, otherwise you will fall behind and you can run into some problems. Right now I’m majoring in sociology but I’m not actually sure where my career focus will be — maybe business or law school.

But I do know I want to train for the Olympics, which would postpone any graduate schooling in the short term.

Q: How is your time spent in a typical day during wrestling season at Harvard?

A: I get up around 7:30 a.m. and practice until 9:30. I’ll have a quick breakfast and run to class at 10:00. I’ll have class until noon, have a little break and go to lunch. Then I’ll have another one or two classes that afternoon and then do some work. The most I would have is four classes in a day.

We have practice from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00. I grab dinner on the way back from practice and do a little work. If I am lifting or running that day I would do that around 8:00 or 9:00. Then do a little more work. I try to get to bed around 11:30. If I’m getting up early in the morning, I don’t want to be up too late.

Q: Have you gotten used to the regimen there? Was it harder as a freshman?

A: Yes, it’s easier now. Just knowing the system and what you have to do to be successful in a class has helped this year. You may be assigned 20 books to read and other things for a class. But when you know what you really need to focus on, you can cut through some of the stuff that may not be as important to your performance in the class.

Q: What do you see as the positive and negative aspects of attending an institution like Harvard?

A: Harvard is very diverse. You get to meet a lot of different people who are talented in all different areas. There is a great mix. It is a great experience.

But, at the same time, you don’t get that same pride in athletics that you might get at an Iowa. I would think that if you are on the wrestling team, you are a celebrity in that area. Here, you don’t get the same attention that you might at another school if you are a big-time athlete. So I think you lose out a little on that because there is not the same support for the sports. But it is getting better. Harvard offers the most intercollegiate sports of any school in the country and our sports teams are doing better this year.

Q: You were voted a team captain for next year, what type of leader will you be?

A: I think I am mainly a leader by example. I don’t like to shout out a lot of orders. I like to get people fired up or help the team out when I can but I don’t think I am a real vocal motivator. In my view, I don’t think a lot of guys like to be told what to do all the time.

Q: How do things look for Harvard as a team in the next couple of years?

A: I think we will be pretty strong. We have Max Odom back from a year off. He was injured and he seems healthy now. He was the number one kid in the country coming out of high school and will be at 157 pounds. He should be a top guy and a potential All-American next year.

We also have Max Meltzer and J.T. Young coming in from Blair Academy. We’ve got good guys coming in and mainly the same guys as last year except for our Dawid Rechul, our heavyweight who was an All-American, and our 133-pounder. But I still think we are going to be pretty strong and hopefully we can get in the top twenty or top fifteen next year.

Q: Whom do you train with there for freestyle?

A: We have a great coach, Granit Taropin, a former Russian national coach. He basically coaches me in the off-season and I work with guys on the team. Dustin DeNunzio, who was an assistant coach this year, was training here. Last year he took second in the Open in freestyle so he’s a great partner for me.

Actually, I am going to Colorado Springs in early June to train with Lincoln McIlravy and the residents out there.

Q: You finished fifth at the U.S. Open this year and third last year in freestyle — so are the Olympics now an immediate goal?

A: Definitely. I am thinking about possibly taking off my senior year to train for 2004. That year they have a ton of tournaments and all they best guys will be back training for that. It would be a good year to gain experience and, if I make big gains in the next few years, I might take a year off to do that.

We don’t redshirt so you have to take a year off from academics and wrestling if you want to pursue that. I could go out to Colorado to train and then be back here the next year to wrestle.

Q: How do the new freestyle weight classes work for you and your plans for your career?

A: They are perfect for me. I was really small for 152 pounds with some of those guys coming down from 175 pounds. I weighed 160 pounds at my heaviest.

I was pretty happy with the way things went at this year’s Open. I wrestled two matches that I could have done better in — the two I lost. On top of that, the weight class was a lot tougher. Last year there weren’t as many guys. Taking out that one weight class made a big difference. You have guys coming up from 138 pounds and down from 152 pounds. It was definitely tougher.

Hopefully by the Trials I will have made some improvements and have a good showing up there. I usually work out with the guys that are up a weight class or two. You’ve got to be careful so you are not getting hurt but it doesn’t bother me too much.

Q: Obviously you have come close to reaching some of your goals, what do you feel you have to do to get yourself to that next level?

A: I just need to continue to wrestle. I’m going to the World Team Trials in late June and I think wrestling those guys will make me better. In my weight this year at the Open, I think everyone was an All-American or a national champion. I think that kind of experience will help me for a tournament like the NCAAs where you have to wrestle five tough, tough matches to win.

I want to improve on my feet and improve on my shots a little more. I got a lot better since last year with defense on my feet and I think my top position is where I am most dangerous. But I want to be equally dangerous on my feet. I also need to work on bottom a little bit — I had a little problem against (Jared) Frayer. There’s still a lot to work on.