Hansen caps stellar Grand View career on top

Kimballton native becomes just the eighth four-time national wrestling champion in NAIA history

 PARK CITY, KAN. -- On March 12, the NCAA made the bleak announcement that it was cancelling this year’s national wrestling championships at the Division I, II and III levels due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
 An endless array of other sporting competitions - high school, collegiate and professional - have also been put on hold or wiped out by the same health concerns.
 For one Kimballton native, however, the opportunity to put the finishing touches on a brilliant college wrestling career was fully capitalized on earlier this month.
 Grand View senior Evan Hansen made history on Saturday, March 7, becoming just the eighth four-time national champion in NAIA history at the national tournament inside Hartman Arena in Park City, Kansas.
 Hansen went 5-0 on the weekend and captured his fourth straight title at 197 pounds. He outscored his five opponents 45-7, capped by a championship round pin of Montana State-Northern’s Isaac Bartel. Hansen also beat Bartel, a Mason City graduate, 6-4 in last year’s title match.
 A 2015 graduate of Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton High School, Hansen is the son of Dale and Gina Hansen of Jacksonville. He earned a pair of state titles as a Spartan wrestler and finished his prep career with a record of 200-8, going 57-0 as a senior.
 After redshirting a year at Grand View, Hansen has continued his dominance at the collegiate level, going 96-7 the last four years for the Des Moines-based powerhouse. The Vikings claimed their NAIA record ninth straight national team title this year, scoring 157 points in Park City - second place had 84.5 - and boasting 10 All-Americans and two national champions.
 Hansen is scheduled to graduate from Grand View in April with a degree in psychology.

 
 

 

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