Ryan Nelson came to the Flathead Valley to get away from the effects COVID-19 was having on his school and athletics. The pandemic caught up to him anyway.

That’s part of what put Nelson on the shelf and nearly out of the State AA wrestling championships, which concluded Saturday at Flathead High School.

The Brave Brawlers won the team title over Billings Senior by 7.5 points. Take away any of their 12 state placers, the championship doesn’t happen. And when Nelson entered the hospital the morning of Feb. 12, then again the next week, it didn’t figure he would wrestle.

“On the 11th I was quarantined from school — the day before Senior Night,” Nelson said this week. “I was pretty bummed about that. I went home and just felt hungry. I ate dinner and went to sleep, and got up around 2 a.m. Friday with really bad stomach pains.”

It was appendicitis, which doctors weren’t in a hurry to operate on — especially after Nelson took the obligatory COVID test and it came back positive.

Double whammy. Add another when a second CAT scan taken 2-3 days later showed his appendix had burst. And another when his post-op pain was the worst yet, leading to another trip to the ER, another CAT scan, and the discovery of abscesses.

“One was like the size of my fist,” said Nelson. “I went back on more antibiotics. I still am on them.”

A generation ago Ryan Nelson’s dad, Brad, was a Flathead wrestler for head coach Chris Tyree. The summer before his junior year his family moved to Vashon Island in Puget Sound.

Fast forward to last spring. When the pandemic hit and Washington’s high school federation shut down athletics this school year — wrestling season is just now getting going in Washington — Kalispell beckoned.

“It was definitely a big change from Washington to Montana,” Nelson said. “But we always visited Kalispell and stuff, and my dad still has family here. We always loved coming to the Valley.

“It was an easy and good transition from Vashon to Kalispell. When I first stepped into Flathead’s wrestling room I thought, ‘This is where I want to be.’”

Nelson was a bruising safety during football season and then joined a tougher wrestling room than the one he left — Vashon would be solidly in the middle of the Class A ranks in Montana.

The room supplied him with three wrestling partners: State placers Fin Nadeau and Chase Youso along with assistant Justin Whitman.

In a season abbreviated to duals-only matches ahead of state, Nelson went 10-3. Then came the whammies. He got out of the hospital Feb. 23, IV in tow.

“I think I had two or three doctors tell me I wasn’t going to wrestle,” Nelson said. “My parents and I pushed to get me out of the hospital and get better as soon as possible. We jumped through some hoops, and made it happen.”

Nelson won his first two matches at state, 12-8 and by disqualification — a Missoula Hellgate wrestler kneed him in the head as time wound down in the quarterfinals. By then Nelson had a separated rib.

“The next day in my semifinal match I just made it worse,” said Nelson, who was pinned in 55 seconds. “They were like, ‘You’re done.’ “

“I bet 99 percent would never get out there,” Flathead coach Jeff Thompson said. “But he wanted to get on that podium and score points and help us win a state championship.”

Wrestling in college is a possibility. MSU-Northern, Providence and Simon Fraser have made contact. Nelson is unsure what the future holds, but he’s happy with his decision last summer.

“It was great,” said the senior, who scored nine team points while the team won its ninth wrestling championship. “It was awesome. Hard workers, and know when to have fun when it’s the right time.

“I really grew close with Chase Youso. Hanging out outside of school, I met neat kids, saw new places. It was like just another family.”

Fritz Neighbor can be reached at 758-4463 or fneighbor@dailyinterlake.com