I remember when I first heard about Bo Nickal, I was really blown away by this guy. I mean, the dude was a beast on the mat, right? So, I got it into my head to really dig into his NCAA records and see what all the hype was about. This was a while back, and I was really into wrestling, and I thought, “Why not document this? Might be fun to look back on.”
So, I started this little project. I decided to gather all the info I could find on Bo Nickal’s wrestling career. I went to all these sports websites, and I was reading old articles, watching match videos, and tracking down stats. It was a lot, I’m not going to lie. I even tried to find some of his high school stuff, just to see how he started. Turns out, the guy was a four-time All-American. That’s pretty insane for high school, you know?
Getting All the Data
The first thing I did was, I made this huge spreadsheet. Yeah, I’m a bit of a nerd like that. I started filling it up with all his matches, his wins, his losses, the whole nine yards. His college record was crazy. The guy graduated from Penn State with something like 120 wins and only 3 losses. Can you believe that? Only three losses! And in NCAA tournaments, he was just as good.
- I listed every tournament he was in.
- I noted his weight class for each year.
- I even wrote down his ranking for each season.
I was really getting into it. For the 2019 season, for instance, I saw he was ranked number 1 at 197 pounds with an EloRank of 1674.27 at one point. I didn’t even know what an EloRank was at first, but I figured it out. It’s like a rating system, right? The higher the number, the better the wrestler.
Diving into His Matches
Then, I got into watching his matches. Man, that was fun. I watched this one match where he faced David Taylor, another legend from Penn State. It was the 2020 Olympic Team Trials. Nickal lost both matches, but still, going up against a guy like Taylor is no small feat. He didn’t make the Olympic team that year, but it was clear he was something special.
I also tracked down some info about his time at Allen High School. There was this interview with him on “The Eagle Angle,” talking about his national championship and his high school days. It was cool to see how he reflected on his early career. He was always good, even back then.
Looking at the Big Wins
One of the things I focused on was his NCAA titles. The guy won three of them! In 2018, he went undefeated for the whole year. He was at 184 pounds then, and just dominated everyone. I watched those matches too. He was so smooth, so in control. It was like watching an artist at work, you know?
I remember reading about the Hodge Trophy too. It’s like the Heisman Trophy for college wrestling. Nickal and another wrestler, Jason Nolf, were both in the running for it. They won a combined six national titles. That’s just mind-blowing.
Wrapping It All Up
In the end, I had this massive document, all about Bo Nickal’s wrestling career. It was a lot of work, but I was proud of it. I mean, the guy was a three-time NCAA champ, a blue belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and had an almost perfect college record. He even transitioned to UFC, starting with a 5-0 record. It’s crazy to think he started hunting later in life, after all that college stuff.
Looking back, it was a pretty cool project. I learned a lot about wrestling, about Bo Nickal, and I even got better at organizing data. I still follow his career, here and there. He’s a name to watch, for sure. And hey, maybe one day I’ll update that spreadsheet with his UFC stats. Who knows?
