Aleeah Gould has come a long way on the wrestling mats.
Gould started wrestling at Canyon as a freshman. Initially, she was the only girl in the program. Then she turned into an on-campus recruiter and in the process, helped create a girls wrestling team.
Along the way, she continued to focus on her improvement, resulting in becoming a three-time CIF State medalist. Gould was fifth at 111 pounds as a sophomore in 2014. She was second at 106 pounds both as a junior and senior.
The next step of Gould’s evolution as a wrestler will take place at King University of Bristol, Tennessee.
She said she knew King was the place for her.
“I knew when I got back from my (recruiting) trip,” she said Wednesday before a signing day ceremony at Canyon. “It was more just talking to my parents. It was just trying to figure out with my parents, which school was the best option.”
Gould said she was also considering Southern Oregon University and Campbellsville University (Kentucky).
“There’s just something about King,” she said. “It kind of felt like home, I guess. I had a friend visit and she said the same the thing.”
Gould will be stepping into a successful program. King University recently captured its third consecutive WCWA national title, finishing with 11 All-Americans and three individual champions.
Six King University wrestlers competed at Olympic Team Trials last weekend in Iowa. Haley Augello, another King wrestler, won the 48kg division.
“Her goal is to do as well as she can and to improve as much as possible,” Paul Gould, Aleeah’s father said. “Aleeah wants to be the best and she wants to fight to be the best and that’s why she chose King.
“She’s worked so hard. I’ve coached wrestling for 14 years and she’s the hardest worker I’ve seen. She’s learned when you work hard and you want something, then you can achieve it and that’s going to carry on through so many other things in life.”
