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  • Aleeah Gould, left, of Canyon has been one of the...

    Aleeah Gould, left, of Canyon has been one of the CIF's top female wrestlers since she was a freshman.

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Living in Riverside and attending Anaheim’s Canyon High keeps senior Aleeah Gould’s days and nights stretched pretty thin.

She’s also one of the brightest hopes either region has of claiming a state title in girls wrestling at this year’s championships Friday and Saturday in Visalia.

Fresh off winning her third straight CIF-SS title at 106 pounds, Gould will be making her final appearance at the CIF Girls State meet, where she was second last year.

“My goal when I go to every tournament is to do better than I did the year before,” Gould said. “Realizing (the state meet) is getting harder and harder is really cool, because it feels like you’re fighting for something.”

Gould is quite a fighter on various fronts, whether it’s going to the mat for the existence of a Canyon girls wrestling program or winning respect over years of being the lone girl in a room full of boys.

“She’s definitely had to go through a huge fight to be where she is,” said Aleeah’s mom, Mindy.

Mindy Gould teaches and coaches girls wrestling at Canyon and is the reason Aleeah has always attended high school miles from her neighborhood.

A typical day for Aleeah starts in Riverside with an early-morning workout, it continues 30 miles away at school, where she is the captain and essentially the founder of the Canyon girls team.

From there she goes to training sessions in Walnut, Redondo Beach or San Marino, before heading home in time to do some studying before hitting the lights and doing it all over again at sunrise.

“Wrestling is a sport where you get out what you put in it,” Gould’s father, Paul, said. “She’s put her heart into it and she’s reaping the benefits.”

Putting in the work – and the miles – needed to become a state contender has been possible due to Gould’s strong will in the face of challenges.

“There were times when I was younger, and now too, but especially then, that some of the coaches wouldn’t want a girl in the room or they talked sexist very openly in the room,” Gould said. “As a senior going into state it wasn’t the best (situation), but I’ve been able to push through it.”

Gould started wrestling at age 6 when she tagged along with her dad to the Moreno Valley Wildcats Wrestling youth club to enroll her little brother, Ethan. She was the only girl in the club.

“She’s a privilege to work with,” said Canyon Springs boys coach Jason Lowe, who has worked with Gould since the early days. “She’s put in the time, the energy and the effort. If anyone can (win a state title), it’s her.”

After two years as the lone girl wrestler at her school, Gould recruited more than a dozen girls to come out. Establishing a wrestling program where one never existed before has had its challenges, Mindy said. Gould could have easily decided to join the state-power team in her home district at Riverside Hillcrest instead.

“For her, building up the program in different schools where it wasn’t being built was more important to her,” Mindy said.

Gould took second at the World Team trials last summer to qualify for the Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico. A bronze medal there led to a spot on Team USA and an opportunity to train at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.

At state, Gould figures to get another shot at senior Sariyah Jones of Enochs, who ended Gould’s state title quest and undefeated season in last year’s finals.

“It’s been my goal and what I’ve been working for all this time,” Gould said. “For me to achieve that would just be amazing and to be able to end my high school career on that would be mission complete.”

Contact the writer: grizk@pressenterprise.com