State College’s Cole Urbas named one of nation’s top-15 wrestlers at 182 pounds

State College junior Cole Urbas has a penchant for all types of building.

He spent hours playing with Legos as a kid. He wants to be an engineer. And, as a wrestler, he built quite the impressive season last year.

He assembled a 32-1 record as a sophomore — along with a district title, regional crown and bronze medal at states — and, as a result, he’s worked his way into FloWrestling’s top-15 national rankings in his respective weight class. Last Wednesday, the Little Lion was listed No. 13 in the country at 182 pounds, moving up three spots from the initial rankings released in July.

“The first time I saw it, I was really just thankful that everything that I’ve been doing over the past years have been paying off,” Urbas said. “All of my coaches, practice partners and everyone who helped me make me who I am, it’s working. I knew I had the capability to do it.

“I never doubted myself. I was just happy to see that now other people are seeing me doing it.”

Urbas said that two years ago after he suffered a loss at the Northwest regional tournament — one round away from reaching states — he set two goals. The first, reach the state tournament and, the other, to help his team get better.

It’s safe to say, after he and two other Little Lions traveled to Hershey last season, he could put a check beside both of those goals.

His next mission? Get to the top of the podium in Hershey by putting in more work.

“I want to work is the difference. Before I was like, ‘I want to be a state champion,’” Urbas said. “Now, I want to work to be a state champion. I’m just excited to figure out what I need to do to win a state championship. The amount of work that I need to do doesn’t really matter to me because I’m going to do as much as I can.”

He said that has been given the opportunity to wrestle with the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club for a little bit of time. Also, he is going to be a part of M2 Academy, a wrestling club that former Penn State wrestler David Taylor is putting together in State College.

But wrestling isn’t all that Urbas focuses on. He is four games into a football season playing on the offensive and defensive lines for State College. He has 10 tackles and a sack so far.

He also has a 4.4 grade point average in school and mentioned he scored a 1390 on his first SAT that he took. That’s sure to impress the colleges that have already reached out to Urbas — such as Lehigh, Pitt, NC State, Cornell, Missouri and Navy.

“With State College athletics, our coaches are really supportive of us being student-athletes,” he said. “They know if I have a test, homework assignment or project they will be fine with me committing more of my time towards academics. I’m really in a good system for that.

“I’ve always loved learning. It really just comes naturally to me to get good grades and be the best person I can be.”

This story was originally published September 25, 2017 at 7:55 PM with the headline "State College’s Cole Urbas named one of nation’s top-15 wrestlers at 182 pounds."