How Rec Hall welcomed State College grad Cole Urbas home in his dual meet debut for Penn vs. Penn State
Mere seconds after the final whistle blew in Penn State wrestling’s 33-7 win over Penn at Rec Hall on Sunday, a crowd of more than two dozen fans pooled around Penn’s corner, all waiting for their chance to talk to — or hug — Port Matilda native Cole Urbas, who had just made his collegiate debut for the Quakers.
While the result — a 6-5 loss to former All-American Kyle Conel — wasn’t what he had wanted for his homecoming, the 2019 State College Area High School grad was still grateful for the experience, and for the estimated more than 100 people who came out to watch him wrestle.
“I’m thankful for everyone who came out. It’s nice being back home,” he said. “I couldn’t be where I am today without everyone who supported me.”
Urbas stayed out on the floor for close to an hour after the dual ended, taking time to talk with each person or group of people who stopped to say hello.
From family members, friends, neighbors, former coaches, managers, State College’s entire varsity, junior varsity and youth teams, Cole’s father, Ed Urbas, estimated that more than 100 people showed up to support his son.
“Even people we don’t know were coming up and saying ‘we’re here to support Cole,’ ” Ed Urbas said.
When Urbas ran out onto the mat for the 197-pound bout, the applause from the crowd nearly matched that of Conel’s.
The Nittany Lion sixth-year senior got out to a fast start against the true freshman, rolling through a high shot to take Urbas to his back for a six-point combination.
Penn coach Roger Reina said that in hindsight, he wishes he would’ve thrown the challenge brick, because he wasn’t sure if Conel should have gotten four nearfall points.
“However, we knew Conel has the ability to go upper body and score big points, like he did in the NCAAs a couple years ago,” he said. “It wasn’t a surprise to us. We knew that was a risk.”
However, Urbas was able to battle back from the early six-point deficit. Down 6-1 in the second, Urbas got a takedown of his own and took Conel to his back, but the Nittany Lion was injured. Urbas picked up the two points for the takedown, and Conel stuck it out to finish the match. Conel chose down to start the final period, and Urbas rode him out, picking up two points for stalling, and racking up more than 59 seconds of riding time — just a fraction of a second short of tying the bout.
While Urbas was disappointed in the result, it doesn’t change how much his coach believes in Urbas’ potential for his program.
“Cole’s got a brilliant future ahead for us, and he was really happy to be here in front of his community and State College,” Reina said. “It was really nice to see the crowd welcome him the way they did.”
Of Penn’s starting lineup, four wrestlers — Urbas, Michael Colaiocco, Lucas Revano and Jesse Quatse — were making their dual meet debuts, and nine of the 10 wrestlers were underclassmen. For Reina, Sunday’s dual was about creating “championship moments.”
While many of his wrestlers have had national championship success on the high school level, Reina is hoping experiences like wrestling at Rec Hall against some of the best wrestlers in the country will help his young athletes reach that level collegiately.
“For us it’s like a championship moment,” he said. “This is preparation for the NCAAs, preparation for Midlands, which is our next tournament. It’s a championships moment for us. All of our guys competed at the national level in high school, so they have that experience. ... They’re gaining experience to compete at the national level in college, and there’s no better place to do that than here at Penn State.”
Next year, Penn State will return the favor and travel to Penn for the second leg of the home-and-home dual series.
But if it were up to Urbas, Penn would just make Rec Hall its new home.
“It was awesome. It’s a great atmosphere in here,” he said. “I wish all of Penn’s dual meets could be here. I wish we were coming back next year; they’ll be coming to us, which is great. I’ll get to wrestle Penn State again, but this was nice. It was really cool.”
It wasn’t until Urbas was a sophomore or junior in high school and “grew into his body” that Ed says he realized his son had the potential to become a Division I wrestler. But ever since Cole was young, his mother, Jennifer Urbas, said they’d take Cole and his younger brother Lance to Penn State matches and tell them, ‘Look, that could be you down on that mat.’ “
On Sunday, that dream came true for both Cole and his family.
“It’s a perfect example of how you never give up, and how he believed that he could be there,” Ed said. “Because he wasn’t that, but he kept on working at it.”
This story was originally published December 8, 2019 at 9:13 PM.
