Bo Nickal


Bo Dean Nickal is an American freestyle wrestler and former folkstyle wrestler. In freestyle, he won last year's U23 World Championship and US Open championship. As a folkstyle wrestler, he is a three-time NCAA Division I Champion and three-time Big Ten Champion. In 2019, he earned the Dan Hodge Trophy award and the Schalles Award, also winning the latter one in 2018.

Early life

Nickal was born in Rifle, Colorado but moved to Wyoming at a young age, where he started wrestling being 5–6 years old. He then moved again to Rio Rancho, New Mexico in fifth grade. He made the varsity high school team while on eighth grade and placed second at the state tournament. In his freshman year, he moved once again to Allen High School in Texas, in that year he once again placed second in the state. He won every state championship since his sophomore year, making him a three-time Texas title holder. He graduated from high school with a 183-7 record, including 131 pins as the number 9 ranked pound for pound wrestler in the nation.

College career

After graduating, Nickal committed to wrestle as a Nittany Lion at Penn State University.

2014-15

Nickal wrestled unattached in his redshirt season, compiling a 15-2 record in open tournaments.

2015-16

In Nickal's freshman year he became the Big Ten Conference Champion at 174-pounds. At the NCAA’s, he defeated four opponents to make his way to the finals, in where he lost to Myles Martin to earn runner-up honors.

2016-17

In his sophomore year he moved to 184. He compiled an undefeated 18-0 record prior to the Big Tens, in which he placed third. At the annual NCAA tournament he secured four dominant victories (three pins and one major to get to the finals, where he defeated two-time defending NCAA Champion Gabe Dean to deny him a third title for him and claim the NCAA championship himself.

2017-18

Nickal had an undefeated run in his junior season, he became the Big Ten Conference Champion for the second time with a record of 26-0 At the NCAA's, he defeated opponents to get to the finals, where he pinned his rival and second seeded wrestler Myles Martin to win his second-straight NCAA title and clinch the team title for Penn State. He was also awarded the 18' NCAA Championship Outstanding Wrestler award and the Schalles Award as the nation's top pinner.

2018-19

As a redshirt senior, Nickal moved up once again to 197 pounds. At this new weight class, he comfortably won the Big Ten Conference Championship by second time consecutively and third time overall. At his last NCAA tournament, he dominated all thee matches to get to the final, pinning his first two opponents and getting a major in the semifinals. In the finals, Nickal defeated the second seeded Kollin Moore by points to claim the NCAA title, becoming one of the four Penn State wrestlers to win 3 National Championships and the second one to be a four-time NCAA Finalist. At the end of the season, he was awarded the Dan Hodge Trophy as nation's best college wrestler and the Schalles Award as US' top pinner. He was also named 2019 Co-Big Ten wrestler of the Year, Penn State Male Athlete of the Year, and Big Ten Male Athlete of the Year.

Freestyle wrestling

Cadet & Junior

When he was in his junior year of high school, he competed at the 2013 Cadet World Championships, at 76 kilos. In this tournament, he defeated Takashi Ishiguro and subsequently lost to Batyrbek Tsakulov. After the loss, he defeated Simone Iannattone by technical fall in the first period and then he would earn another 1st period technical fall victory against Sargis Hovsepyan. Nickal wrestled for the third place but lost to Ali Mojerloo and placed fifth instead.
In 2016, Nickal competed in the 2016 Junior World Team Trials at 84 kg. In the quarterfinals and semifinals of the challenge tournament Nickal wasn't scored a point, winning by technical fall in both bouts after scoring 10 points to 0 against Hunter Ritter and Emery Parker respectively. In the finals he defeated Bobby Steveson by technical fall, scoring 12-2 and winning the tournament. Nickal then advanced to the trials in which he would face Zahid Valencia in a best-of-three. Nickal lost the two bouts, the first one not being able to score while Valencia scored 2 and the second one scoring 2 points to 8, losing eligibility to compete at the World Championships.

U23 & Senior

2016

Nickal competed at the 2016 US Senior Last Chance Olympic Qualifier at 86 kilograms. He won his first two matches by technical fall but subsequently lost by the same method. He went on to win three more matches to make the consolation bracket's final, but ultimately got pinned.

2017

Nickal competed at the 2017 U.S Open Championships at 86 kilograms. Nickal didn't struggle to get to the semifinals, taking out Randy Keesler, Timmy McCall and John Staudenmayer via tech fall. In the semi-finals he faced Richard Perry, losing 8-10 and getting thrown to the consolation bracket. In the semifinals he faced 2016 All-American Pat Downey, whom he teched 12-2, advancing to the consolation finals. In the 3rd place bout he faced Nick Heflin, whom he lost a tough 8-10 to, placing 4th.

2019

Once he graduated from college in 2019, Nickal immediately focused completely on freestyle wrestling.
Nickal competed at the U.S Open in the 92 kilograms division. He walked throughout his competition, stopping 5 opponents and earning the championship. Between the first and the second round, he only wrestled for 53 seconds.
After winning the U.S Open, Nickal automatically got to the finals of the World Team Trials Challenge Tournament, in which he would face Michael Macchiavello in a best-of-three rematch. Nickal dominated the first match winning by technical fall and in the second match he would outscore Macchiavello 5-0, without letting him to score a point in neither match.
Nickal wrestled in two straight matches against Olympic bronze medalist J'den Cox for the spot to represent the United States at the World Championships. In the first match, he got outscored 4-2 and wasn't able to score offensively. In the second round, he wasn't able to score a single point, while Cox scored 5. Because of the defeats, Cox represented the United States in Kazakhstan instead of Nickal.
As a Final X contestant at 23 years old, he had the right to compete at the U23 World Team Trials against the Challenge Tournament winner, Jakob Woodley. The special wrestle-offs took place during the Fargo Nationals. Nickal dominated 12-4 in the first match and 8-2 in the second match. Due to those victories, Nickal represented United States at the 2019 World U23 Wrestling Championships.
At the U23 World's, Nickal defeated 3 opponents including the returning champion to get to the finals, in where he faced the accomplished Batyrbek Tsakulov. Nickal was able to avenge his loss with a 12-2 technical fall victory to earn the championship.

2020

By the start of 2020, Nickal would move up to the Olympic 97 kilograms weight class in an attempt to take out Olympic Gold medalist Kyle Snyder. He effortlessly passed the first round by technical fall before facing Mohammad Mohammadian, who would nullify Nickal to a 0-10 technical fall, marking the first time he had been defeated in such fashion in freestyle and college. In the consolation bracket, he would also have a tough time, as he had a close match with Alisher Yergali in which he was down 11-12 but secure to get a last second takedown to earn a 13-12 point-victory. Next in the bracket was Kyle Snyder, however, Nickal did not appear on the mat, forcing the match to be ruled as a forfeit victory for Snyder and also eliminating Nickal from the tournament, placing 7th.
As a 2019 World Champion at U23, Nickal qualified for the US Olympic Trials. He was scheduled to compete at the event on April, however, it was postponed for 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic along with the 2020 Summer Olympics. As a champion at a non-olympic weight, Nickal was supposed to decide if he was going to compete at 86 or 97 kilograms, but this decision never became public as the events were postponed.

Mixed martial arts career

On November 10, 2019, it was announced that Nickal had signed an MMA management deal with First Round Management and is expected to make the transition after the 20' Summer Olympics. He's a current member of American Top Team and trains there in the meantime. He has been training with multiple competitors, most notably UFC's welterweight contender Jorge Masvidal, whom he prepared for his title fight with Kamaru Usman. He has also trained with former Nittany Lion teammate and NCAA champion Anthony Cassar, who is also expected to transition to mixed martial arts and train full-time at ATT after the Olympics.
It was also announced that Nickal has serious plans on partnering with Dan Lambert and opening a new American Top Team facility at Pleasant Gap, Pennsylvania. His role would be to recruit competitors, primarily former wrestlers with mixed martial arts ambitions and professional athletes of the latter mentioned discipline.

Personal life

Nickal is the son of Jason and Sandy Nickal, they were both college athletes, as his mother played basketball at San Diego State University and his father played football at Chadron State College. His father Jason used to coach him since he started wrestling until he was in eighth grade. His mother Sandy is also a former amateur boxer.
Nickal is a christian and considers Jesus one of the persons who inspire him to wrestle.
As a kid, his favorite wrestler was two-time Olympic Gold Medalist John Smith. Apart from wrestling, he also is an enthusiast of spikeball and likes American football, his favorite player being former Detroit Lions player Barry Sanders.

Awards and honors

;2019
;2018
;2017
! colspan="7"| Senior Freestyle Matches
! Res.
! Record
! Opponent
! Score
! Date
! Event
! Location
! style=background:white colspan=7 |
Rome, Italy
! style=background:white colspan=7 |
Budapest, Hungary
! style=background:white colspan=7 |
Fargo, North Dakota, United States
! style=background:white colspan=7 |
New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States
Lincoln, Nebraska, United States
! style=background:white colspan=7 |
Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
! style=background:white colspan=7 |
Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
! style=background:white colspan=7 |
Cedar Falls, Iowa, United States

NCAA record

! colspan="8"| NCAA Division I Record
! Res.
! Record
! Opponent
! Score
! Date
! Event
! style=background:lighgrey colspan=6 |End of 2018-2019 Season
! style=background:white colspan=6 |2019 NCAA Championships at 197 lbs
! style=background:white colspan=6 |2019 Big Ten Conference at 197 lbs
! style=background:white colspan=6 |2019 Southern Scuffle at 197 lbs
! style=background:white colspan=6 |2018 Keystone Classic at 197 lbs
! style=background:lighgrey colspan=6 |Start of 2018-2019 Season
! style=background:lighgrey colspan=6 |End of 2017-2018 Season
! style=background:white colspan=6 |2018 NCAA Championships at 184 lbs
! style=background:white colspan=6 |2018 Big Ten Conference at 184 lbs
! style=background:white colspan=6 |2018 Southern Scuffle at 184 lbs
! style=background:white colspan=6 |2017 Keystone Classic at 184 lbs
! style=background:lighgrey colspan=6 |Start of 2017-2018 Season
! style=background:lighgrey colspan=6 |End of 2016-2017 Season
! style=background:white colspan=6 |2017 NCAA Championships at 184 lbs
! style=background:white colspan=6 |2017 Big Ten Conference at 184 lbs
! style=background:white colspan=6 |2016 Keystone Classic at 184 lbs
! style=background:lighgrey colspan=6 |Start of 2016-2017 Season
! style=background:lighgrey colspan=6 |End of 2015-2016 Season
! style=background:white colspan=6 |2016 NCAA Championships at 174 lbs
! style=background:white colspan=6 |2016 Big Ten Conference at 174 lbs
! style=background:white colspan=6 |2016 Southern Scuffle at 174 lbs
! style=background:white colspan=6 |2015 Nittany Lion Open at 174 lbs
! style=background:lighgrey colspan=6 |Start of 2015-2016 Season

Stats

! Season
! Year
! School
! Rank
! Weigh Class
! Record
! Win
! Bonus

Submission grappling record