Hanning Wins National Title

Aiden Hanning, an 8^th grader from Merrimack and member of both the Merrimack Middle School and MYA Wrestling teams, capped his 2016-17 season with a national championship in the 135 lb weight class. Hanning, who just won a New England Championship a few weeks ago, decided he wasn't done with his season just yet. He had one more goal on his list. He wanted to be a middle school All American so he asked his father to take him to Nationals. His father, Mike Hanning, a former Merrimack High School wrestler himself, was only too happy to grant Aiden's request. The two hopped in the car and drove down to Virginia Beach, VA to participate in the National High School Coaches' Association's (NHSCA) High School Nationals tournament on March 25-26.

The High School Nationals is the premier high school tournament in the United States. It attaracts champions from across the country to an NCAA-style tournament to determine the best of the best. The tournament is broken into divisions for middle schoolers, freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors. The tournament's “wall of fame” listing of former participants reads like a who's who in American wrestling from the past 30 years. Olympic team members, Olympic medal winners, World champions, World team members, NCAA champions and NCAA All Americans. It was at the Nationals tournament where many of these wrestlers took their first step onto the USA wrestling stage.

With such tough competition, the elder Hanning admitted before the tournament, “I'd be really excited to just see Aiden place in the top eight and reach his goal of becoming a middle school All American. There are some really tough kids out there.” But Aiden had other plans.

The morning of the tournament Aiden admitted, “I was nervous as heck. My stomach wasn't feeling right and I was just anxious.” Despite the nerves, Hanning's tournament got off to a quick start with first period falls over Yoel Del Rio of North Carolina and Nolin Eaddy of Florida. Hanning said that once he had those two matches under his belt, he knew he could get to the finals. It wasn't easy though. In the semi-finals, he faced his toughest competition of the tournament, Matheson Meade of Tennessee. Hanning gutted out a 4-0 decision in a physical match to advance to the finals where he faced Nick Feldman of Pennsylvania.

The championship match between Hanning and Feldman was a intense. Feldman wasted no time in taking Hanning down right off the whistle. Recalling the match Hanning said, “I had my plan going in and then he shot right away. I didn't expect that. He surprised me.” A stunned Hanning quickly gathered himself, however and escaped. The contact seemed to calm Hanning. He hit a clutch edge-of-the-mat takedown which unsettled his opponent and then gave a hard ride for the rest of the 1^st period which appeared to sap Feldman's energy. In the 2^nd period, Hanning chose the bottom position but quickly escaped to go up 4-2. He then countered a Feldman leg attack with a “Spladle” move for the pin 35 seconds into the 2^nd period ending the match.

Hanning not only achieved his goal to become a middle school All American but he left Virgina as a middle school National Champion. When asked how he felt after winning New England and National titles in the space of just a couple of weeks, he said, “I really don't know. It hasn't sunk in yet. I am just really happy.”

Hanning hopes to wrestle for the Iowa Hawkeyes some day. He's shown he can compete and win against the best the country has to offer, so expect him to check that goal off his list some day too. For now, Merrimack celebrates it's first ever National Champion, Aiden Hanning.