“The saddest thing in life is wasted talent,” said Jake DiMarsico, quoting Chazz Palminteri from his favorite movie “A Bronx Tale.”

DiMarisco grew up just outside of New York City, in Thiells, where he attended North Rockland High School. He began wrestling in Middle School, after watching WWE and his friends Matt and Mike Caputo wrestle.

DiMarsico always dreamed of wrestling at the next level, and once he entered his junior year at North Rockland he began to realize that there was a strong chance that he would be able to compete in college. Junior year, he won his section title wrestling at 120 pounds, and was beginning to get some attention after putting up an impressive season. He returned for his senior season as a section champ and ended up repeating as section champ wrestling this time at 132 pounds.

DiMarsico credits his performance trainer John Hoke for his success, as he put in the mindset of being the best and just not giving up and getting better every day. “Jake honestly has the most relentless work ethic in an athlete I have ever seen. He has a whatever it takes attitude to get better,” said Hoke.

Hoke went on to tell a story about when Jake won his first section title. “He originally began the season wrestling at 132 pounds. Coach Swick and myself approached Jake with opportunity to drop down two weight classes to 120 pounds where we felt like he had the chance to win. Without hesitating he agreed to it and ended up winning the section title.”

DiMarsico remembers that Hoke told him, “You have to be comfortable being uncomfortable.” Jake was able to drop 12 pounds in under two weeks which was not an easy task.

“Everytime I work out or when I am in practice I push my body to its limits to get better. I don’t cut myself short and look to get better one percent every day,” DiMarsico said.

After his freshman year at Wilkes, DiMarsico took a year off from wrestling as he was preparing to transfer to Cortland University.  In the end, he chose not to go.

“A lot of good successful D1 wrestlers take off a year and redshirt. They gain maturity for the sport,” said DiMarsico when talking about taking off a year from wrestling.

DiMarsico finished his freshman year with a 10-9 record, and looks to improve on that record this upcoming season.

“When you wrestled in high school you could be going against wrestlers that you know you can easily defeat, compared to the competition as this level where there really is no easy match and every match is hard fought,” said Jake describing the difference in competition from high school to college.

Last year, the Colonels sent 10 wrestlers to compete at the Eastern Regionals. Four of them went on to compete in the NCAA Championships. DiMarsico hopes to join them this season. He will wrestle at 141 pounds, joining five other Colonels competing for the top spot.

You can ask anybody from North Rockland, and they’ll just tell you this is just another North Rockland tale.