Hansen goes from hospital bed to district qualifier

Published by editor on Tue, 02/09/2021 - 9:54am

Braden Hansen of the Bulldogs puts Iowa Falls-Alden's Aaron Halverson to his back in the 160-pound semifinal in the Class 2A Section 12 meet. Hansen went from thinking he wouldn't wrestle again to the sectional runner-up. (Kristi Nixon/Hampton Chronicle)

By:

Kristi Nixon

Regional Sports Editor

IOWA FALLS — Mid-December, 160-pound Bulldog junior wrestler Braden Hansen started feeling sick.

He ended up in the hospital and his future in wrestling was in doubt.

Fast-forward to December and Braden Hansen surprised everyone with a return to the mat at the Bulldogs’ home tournament.

A few weeks ago, he was a North Central Conference champion and on Saturday, Feb. 6 at Iowa Falls-Alden High School the wrestler whose nickname is ‘Fuzz’ advanced to the Class 2A District meet at New Hampton this coming Saturday.

“Right before Christmas, I wound up in the hospital for a little bit and wasn’t sure what wrestling was going to look like the rest of the year,” Braden Hansen said, “but I’ve been coming along pretty good now and nothing has been bothering me and I’ve been going pretty good.”

What caused his illness was something called Superior Mesenteric Artery Syndrome, or SMA, a rare condition involving the small intestine.

“I went out to eat a lot, big amounts when I could eat after weigh-ins,” Hansen said. “I started feeling bloated and that stuff, and it ended up being called SMA: part of my intestine was closed down because the fat around it was gone.

“It was blocking it and I ended up throwing up and we went to the ER and we had it figured out, but ever since then, I’ve been good. I’m just glad to be healthy again.”

Fortunately for Hansen, no surgery was involved.

“They just put me on a feeding tube, getting me back up to weight to get that to open back up again and they got the feeding tube to the blockage all right, so I didn’t have to have surgery, which is a plus,” he said. “They also put me on an NG tube, which, like, it sucks the excess bile out of my stomach. It wasn’t much fun.”

During all of this, Hansen didn’t think he was going to wrestle again, let alone come back this year.

“I didn’t think I was going to wrestle again and if I was, I would wrestle ’60, but that’s been going good,” Hansen said, “and then, I’m just happy I was able to wrestle again.”

Now, Hansen joins sectional champions Jack Showalter at 120, Carl Barkema (152) and Tate Schmitt (170) to wrestle for the right to go to state.

His task is tougher coming in as the sectional runner-up.

“It’s good. I wanted to win my finals match and get out of there a little bit easier, but I’m glad to win the wrestleback and just make it on to next weekend,” Hansen said. “The good news is, if you beat the sectional champ first round, come out, wrestle good, you are pretty much in. The odds of the sectional champ losing twice on the backside…

“It’s good and bad, you’ve got to come out ready to wrestle first match on Saturday.”

And coach Patrick Hansen thinks that Braden can still emerge with a state berth this coming Saturday.

“It’s good that he can move on,” coach Hansen said. “I think he can catch that Dike-New Hartford kid next time, but we’ll work on it and watch tape.”

The Bulldogs finished third, just missing a shot at regional duals by a mere three and a half points at 183.5. Webster City won the sectional with 210, followed by Dike-New Hartford with 187.

The team performance, which included four third-place finishes, left coach Hansen displeased.

“It wasn’t a good day,” coach Hansen said. “We had 10 kids seeded in the top three and I thought we could get seven or eight through. I hate losing, and it’s kind of tight. We got four kids through, but a lot of good kids are staying home.”

Showalter opens this Saturday against Waukon’s Jakob Regan, Barkema wrestles Crestwood’s Clay Schemmel, Schmitt faces Caden Collins of Charles City and Hansen has top seed Hunter Bye of Crestwood.

“We’re focusing on that first match,” coach Hansen said. “And then worry about the second match. We’ll watch a lot of tape. We have four coaches, each coach for one kid. Watch some tape on kids we haven’t seen yet and we should be able to coach them.”

Class 2A Sectional 12 Meet at Iowa Falls-Alden

Team Scoring

1. Webster City 210; 2. Dike-New Hartford 187; 3. Hampton-Dumont 183.5; 4. Iowa Falls-Alden 176; 5. Roland-Story 152; 7. AP-GC 116.

Hampton-Dumont results

106— Wrestleback match, Carson Doolittle (WC) pinned Jayson Stevens 1:01. Stevens third.

120— Championship match, Jack Showalter dec. Logan Powers (R-S) 2-0.

132— Wrestleback match, Chase Rattenborg (WC) pinned Jakyb Kapp 2:48. Kapp third.

138— Fifth-place match, Gage Plagge pinned Connor Kellum (AP-GC) 2:40.

145— Fifth-place match, Cael Burmester pinned Nolan Dall (D-NH) 1:56.

152— Championship match, Carl Barkema pinned Hesston Johnson (R-S) 1:03.

160— Wrestleback match, Braden Hansen pinned Stuart Whitehill (AP-GC) 4:24.

170— Championship match, Tate Schmitt pinned Nick Johnson (AP-GC) 3:20.