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• Teen’s Ipods and Hearing Loss
• Jeff Christiansen Hasn’t Let Hearing Loss Slow Him Down
• Firefighters Win Suit on Hearing Loss

Born with only 55 percent of his hearing, Christiansen has gone through resconstructive surgery that has curtailed his hearing loss.

“I have had surgery that has helped correct some things,” said Christiansen ,who wrestles at 160 pounds. “For now things are fine. I really don’t know if I will have to have more surgery in the future or if I will lose more of my hearing.”

When the Whitehall senior 160-pounder takes to the mat, it is not uncommon to see him use sign language with Whitehall coaches Cliff Sandee and Jason Johnson.

“Sometimes that is how they communicate with me when I am out there wrestling,” said Christiansen.

His hearing loss has never been a problem on the mat, but Christiansen and his coaches make sure the referees know about his situation.

“If it’s a referee that may not know about it, we usually tell them,” said Christiansen. “I don’t want them to think I am disrespecting them because I couldn’t hear the whistle and keep on wrestling.”

Sandee joked that his voice is like it is because of the yelling he does when Christiansen is competing on the mat.

“I find myself maybe yelling a little more when Jeff is wrestling so he can hear me,” said Sandee. “I can see a drastic improvement in his hearing from a couple of years ago and he has hasn’t let it affect his wrestling at all.”

Christiansen has posted a 37-12 record and is coming off a second-place finish at the Division 3 individual districts at Remus-Chippewa Hills.

“After last season, I put in lots of off-season work getting ready for this season,” said Christiansen, who was a state finals qualifier as a junior. “Getting to the finals last year made me work harder because I want to do better this season.”

A strong, physical wrestler, Christiansen has been a leader for the Vikings this winter, according to Sandee.

“Jeff is one of the strongest kids I have coached and has really good footwork on the mat,” said Sandee. “I like to think the team takes on the identity of the coach and its captains, which Jeff is one.”

Led by a talented group of seniors that includes Christiansen, Tim Varela, Wayne Champion and Carson Mahoney, the Vikings claimed their third straight city championship this year and beat Fremont 33-30 in a thrilling team district final last week.

Whitehall travels to Big Rapids on Wednesday to wrestle state-ranked Chippewa Hills in the regional semifinals at 6 p.m.

“I really like our chances against Chippewa Hills,” said Christiansen. “We saw them at regionals and I think that will really help us.”

If Whitehall can get past Chippewa Hills in the semifinals, it could get a rematch with West Michigan Conference rival Shelby in the finals.

“We lost three overtime matches to Chippewa Hills guys in the districts and I think that will be fresh in our minds come Wednesday,” said Sandee. “It would be great to see Shelby in the regional finals.”

Christiansen likes his team’s chances on Wednesday and would like nothing more than to get back to the state finals as a team and as an individual.

“I know we have what it takes to win that regional,” said Christiansen. “I want us to wrestle well as a team and I really want to get back to the individual finals and finish in the top four.”

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Original story posted here.

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