Nickel wraps up Pandas career with first U Sports national title
Swift Current’s Aleah Nickel wrapped up her university wrestling career in fine style over the past few weeks. The decorated member of the University of Alberta Pandas won her third Canada West title, was named the Canada West Outstanding Women’s Wrestler, and won her first U Sports national championship.
She got her hunt for a national title underway at the Canada West Championship in Calgary in February.
“There was a lot of nerves going into it honestly. I just wanted to perform well. We have a younger team, so I wanted to show them the leadership throughout the entire year, trying to keep the nerves to myself so it didn’t rub off on them was actually kind of difficult.”
Nickel won her only 68 KG match over the host Dinos’ Ellise Daynes to win a third Canada West title.
“It ended up being a really good tournament for me. I unfortunately only had one match. I wish I would have had two or three matches that other people had. I decided that since I’m only getting one I will wrestle to the best of my ability and leave nothing on the mat. So that’s what I did and I was able to, honestly I felt really good that match and I’m very proud of how I wrestled.”
She was also named the Canada West Outstanding Women’s Wrestler that weekend.
“I wasn’t expecting to get Can West Wrestler of the Year. I was very surprised. I was very honoured, very shocked. But I know I’ve worked very hard for it all year so I’m proud of myself.”
Nickel had won silver in 2023 in her first attempt at U Sports Nationals, which were hosted by the University of Guelph this year.
“It went really well. I
had a good warm-up, good energy from the team, positive coaching from the corner the entire weekend, so I kept my spirits up, kept my head high. It was easy to just keep doing what I do best at wrestling.”
She said she had a strong contingent cheering her on at Nationals.
“I took everything from my team, everything from my support, my parents came out, a lot of other athletes parents came out and just their support and having all that backing just really made it easier to wrestle at my best.”
Nickel opened the tournament with a 12-0 win over Mcmaster’s Natalie Vecchio. She added a 51-second technical fall victory over Algoma University’s Mel Morrish. Nickel clinched a spot in the championship match with an 11-second win over Western’s Alison Acetto.
She defeated Brock University’s Jessica Tillmans 11-0 in the gold medal match.
“It was just needing to control the whole match. My coach has always told us if you’re going into it nervous, which I was going into it nervous, that first point just get a
push out point, get that first point on the board and then you’ll go from there. That’s what I did, I got the first push out point and then after that I realized I can just control her, so I could just continued to control her and control the rest of the match. I dictated the pace and I just went from there,” Nickel explained.
She said it was an emotional moment when she had her hand raised.
“There was a lot of emotions going through me. I was super excited that I did it. I was very happy, proud of myself. But there was also the emotion of this might be my last one. I don’t know if I’m coming back to school for a masters after a couple years. It was just a bittersweet feeling also of what am I doing next?”
Nickel has spent her entire university career with the Golden Bears, although her wrestling career was delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Honestly I couldn’t be happier with the program that I chose. They have been the best second family to me that I could have asked for. Overall, I have developed skills and have been able to grow and develop both as an athlete and as just a person in general. It’s taken me a lot of places outside of even university wrestling, so I couldn’t ask for a better team to be with and the opportunities that I’ve gotten from it.”
Nickel was in Serbia for the Senior World Championship in September. She also represented Canada at the U23 World Championships in October in Albania.
“That was my first win at a world championship. That feeling was something that I don’t even know how to describe it. Knowing that I’m at that level and I can compete with that is just exciting to see the opportunities for growth for the future.”
Nickel is also the alternate for Canada this summer at 62 KG for the Paris Summer Olympics after placing second to Ana Godinez Gonzalez at the Canadian Team Trials in December.
Nickel has two years of athletic eligibility remaining, but is graduating with a Bachelor of Science and Kinesiology. She plans to stay in Edmonton for the next few years and will continue to train and compete with the Pandas going forward. Even though she will likely no longer be a student, most tournaments the Pandas attend are open events.
Nickel will take part in Wrestling Canada Lutte Senior Nationals later this month in Ottawa.