Grand View’s Hansen wins third national title

 DES MOINES -- Grand View junior wrestler Evan Hansen became a three-time national champion last Saturday, claiming his third straight title at 197 pounds and helping the Vikings claim their eighth consecutive team crown at the 2019 NAIA National Championships, held March 1-2 at the Jacobsen Exhibition Center in Des Moines.
 Hansen capped a 19-1 season by outlasting Isaac Bartel of MSU-Northern 6-4 in the championship final at 197. He joined an exclusive list of three-time NAIA champions and is the first since Grand View’s Eric Thompson in 2014. The top-seeded Hansen also scored a pin and two major decisions on his way to placing first.
 The son of Dale and Gina Hansen and a Kimballton native, Hansen is a 2015 graduate of Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton, where he was a two-time state champion for the Spartans.
 The Vikings scored 219 points last weekend, finishing 134 points ahead of second-place Lindsey Wilson (Kentucky). They are now tied for the most team titles (8) in NAIA history and their streak of eight consecutive national championships is just one shy of Iowa’s nine-year run (1978-1986) for the most at any level of collegiate wrestling.