How State College’s Cole Urbas earned an at-large bid with UPenn to the NCAA Wrestling Championships
The University of Pennsylvania wrestling team stumped earlier this week for Cole Urbas to receive an at-large bid in the national tournament — and it got its wish Tuesday afternoon.
A day after trying to convince doubters on social media, UPenn watched as freshman and State College grad Cole Urbas earned one of the six at-large bids at 197 pounds. He’ll now officially take part in the 2020 NCAA Wrestling Championships from March 19-21 at Minnesota’s U.S. Bank Stadium.
He’ll discover his seeding and his first-round matchup during the Selection Show on NCAA.com at 6 p.m. Wednesday.
Urbas earned one of the 48 total at-large berths in the tournament with a strong resume. As UPenn’s Twitter account noted Monday, in a tweet designed to persuade, the former Little Lion finished the season with:
- A 20-13 record with three wins over ranked opponents
- A ranking in boths RPI polls, including No. 33 entering the EIWAs
- Third place at the Keystone Classic
- Seventh place at EIWAS (one spot away from an automatic qualification)
- All-conference honorable mention
He also had two tight contests against elite competition, falling 4-3 to Virginia’s No. 5 Jay Aiello and 4-3 to Bucknell’s No. 20 Drew Phipps.
Urbas was a 2019 graduate of State College, where he finished his high school wrestling career with a 115-13 record. He was a three-time district champion and a three-time regional champion; he also came in second, third and fourth during his three trips to states.
He was pinned once in his last 103 high school matches, while pinning 64 of his opponents.
The 2020 NCAA Wrestling Championships will start at noon March 19 on ESPNU.