State College graduates Lance, Cole Urbas continue brotherly bond with Penn wrestling
Siblings don’t always get along at a young age.
But as time goes on, those same siblings grow up and can grow close to one another.
That’s especially true for siblings who find something to bond over. For State College graduates Lance and Cole Urbas, that’s wrestling.
The pair were teammates their entire youth, junior high and high school careers for the Little Lions’ program up until 2018, when Cole graduated and moved on to the University of Pennsylvania’s wrestling team. Fast forward to this year, the brothers are back together again as teammates with the Quakers as Lance entered his freshman year of college.
“I did miss him, so it’s great seeing him every day,” Lance told the Centre Daily Times after Penn hosted Penn State for a dual meet at the Palestra on Dec. 3. “I think we build off each other. We motivate each other. It’s really great to be on the same team as him.”
Cole said he couldn’t be happier to have Lance back with him. He said having Lance on the squad was like having a built-in best friend. Cole was looking forward to being able to share the college experience with his younger brother.
So far, Cole says Lance is ahead of where he was before he made the move to Philadelphia to start his college career.
“He is way ahead of where I was mentally coming into college,” Cole said. “When you are wrestling in college, it’s your life. You are so focused on that aspect. You take a lot of pride in how you wrestle and your improvement.”
In his first two seasons with the Quakers, Cole has amassed a 28-16 record. He went 21-13 his rookie campaign and became a NCAA qualifier, before those championships were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He was also the lone Penn wrestler to start all of the team’s duals that season.
Cole didn’t wrestle at all last season, as the Ivy League canceled winter sports. However, he was still named one of the Quakers’ captains, which was a significant honor for a sophomore.
“It speaks to his leadership, and his capacity to continue to grow as a leader,” Penn coach Roger Reina said. “We spend a lot of time talking about leadership here. We work with the Wharton School of Business and their leadership program. All of our wrestlers go through.
“We work with world-class faculty on leadership development. We are constantly trying to engage our guys, and growing their leadership style. Cole is a part of that. All of our guys are part of that. We expect a lot of them on the mat and off the mat.”
Cole and Lance are the 22nd pair of brothers who Reina said he’s coached during his time at Penn. Family and community are key values for his squad, he said.
“He brings a lot of life to the organization. He is a fun-loving and hard-working guy,” Reina said of Cole. “He has a really positive attitude. On the mat, he is very capable of competing with the best guys in the country, we know that. The fact that Lance is here, too, we are really thrilled to have the Urbas brothers and family as part of our program.”
Cole has amassed a 7-3 record so far this year, but Lance isn’t quite there yet. The younger Urbas is recovering from offseason knee surgery.
When he’s not busy rehabbing his knee, Lance has been working toward his goal of recording 10,000 pull ups by the time the NCAA Championships come around in March. As of last Friday, he was still on pace to reach that goal.
Lance said he was weighing around 195-196 pounds and laughed when asked if he was gunning for Cole’s starting spot with Penn. Lance wrestled 172 pounds for State College.
“I want to see how bulky I can get and then cut down,” Lance said. “(1)74 is still probably easy to make, but I’m going to put some muscle on and see how it feels.”
