Here’s how a trio of former Centre County wrestlers fared at NCAA Championships

For the second straight year, Centre County had a trio of wrestlers from local schools competing in the NCAA Championships.

State College graduate Cole Urbas and Bellefonte graduate Jude Swisher competed for Pennsylvania. Penns Valley graduate Malachi DuVall competed for George Mason.

“There’s nothing like it; this is awesome. I love the environment,” DuVall said on Thursday. “When you walk out to that arena, it’s crazy. There’s tens of thousands of of fans out there watching you. The highs are high and the lows are lows.”

It was DuVall’s and Swisher’s first time at the NCAA Championships. For Urbas, Thursday marked the fourth and final time he was competing in the tournament.

“That was my goal. I mean I had higher goals than that from day one, but definitely envisioned that,” Urbas said on Thursday. “I’m definitely grateful that I’ve had this long of a career. I stayed healthy, focused and surrounded myself with good people. Fourth time, it’s fun.”

Of the three, Urbas was the only one to make it to Day 2 on Friday, but all three were able to at least get one win.

Urbas opened his tournament by suffering a 22-3 technical fall loss to Little Rock’s Stephen Little in 5:00 at 197 pounds. He dropped into the consolation bracket to face Cleveland State’s Benjamin Smith.

It didn’t start well against Smith for Urbas as he gave up a late takedown in the first period. He took the top position and rode Smith out for the entire second period.

The third period was a scoring spree for Urbas as he opened with a takedown, and then put Smith toward his back for three sets of nearfall points in a 12-3 major decision.

Urbas saw his college career come to a close on Friday afternoon with a 7-1 loss to Virginia Tech’s Andy Smith.

“I’m just really at peace with the sport. At this point in my career, it’s like something that I love. I’ve poured so much of my life into. It’s a beautiful and tough sport,” Urbas said. “It’s made me who I am today, but at the same time, it’s not something that I attached my ego to, which is something that I’ve learned a lot about myself and about the sport throughout my years.

“The other thing with it being my last one, I just want to leave a legacy within my team and teammates, and being proud of the impact that I have on the culture and on my teammates, that will hopefully carry some of that forward.”

DuVall, who won a Mid American Conference title at 184 pounds, had a buzzsaw in Oklahoma State’s Dustin Plott to begin his first NCAA tournament.

Plott controlled from start to finish racking up a 17-2 technical fall in 5:00.

DuVall stayed poised though in his consolation match with Appalachian State’s Tomas Brooker. DuVall was able to collect a first period pin in 1:22.

In the next round, DuVall faced off with Cornell’s Chris Foca, who suffered an upset loss to the No. 19th-seeded wrestler. Foca shutout DuVall, 15-0, in 5:00.

“It starts back at the conference tournament. I really just took it upon myself to getting wins back,” DuVall said. “I went hard on my mindset, being offensive in matches and got my cardio up. My cardio used to be bad, but come MAC time, I ended up winning the conference when I truly didn’t believe in myself to win it, so that was a big testament to how good I’ve gotten throughout this year. It hurts right now, but it’s just going to make me come back even better next year.”

Swisher went all the way to Kansas City to face off with a former District 6 wrestler in North Carolina State’s Jackson Arrington, who wrestled at Forest Hills.

The pair never faced each other in high school, but in Thursday’s matchup Arrington came away with an 11-3 major decision at 149 pounds.

Swisher bounced back with a major decision of his own against The Citadel’s Jeffrey Boyd, 11-1, in the consolation bracket. The Quakers wrestler saw his season come to a close with a 13-3 loss to Wisconsin’s Joseph Zargo.

Although all three have moved on to the next stage of their wrestling careers, they haven’t forgotten about where they came from.

“Centre County is a little hidden gem in the country, that is where all your hammers are coming out of. We got Pierson Manville, Zach Witmer, (Tyler) Kasak and Levi (Haines) trained in the M2 Training Center. It’s just crazy, growing up there, you get good quick or you stop trying,” DuVall said. “You got to get good in Centre County when you’re growing up. I was bawling my eyes out in every single tournament.

“Honestly, it couldn’t have been a better place to grow up and train because I had partners. Everywhere I went I was getting my butt kicked, and it turned out for the better.”

Added Urbas while holding back tears: “Centre County has a special place in my heart. I’m proud to be from Centre County. It’s such a nice place to grow up, a hotbed of wrestling that just inspired me from day one. Centre County is the place to be.”

NCAA Championships

At Kansas City, Mo.

Team key: Appalachian State (APP), Cleveland State (CSU), Cornell (CN), George Mason (GM), Little Rock (LR), North Carolina State (NCS), Oklahoma State (OKS), Pennsylvania (P), The Citadel (T), Virginia Tech (VT), Wisconsin (W)

Friday’s Results

Consolation Second Round

197: Andy Smith, VT, dec. Cole Urbas, P, 7-1

Thursday’s Results

Consolation First Round

149: Joseph Zargo, W, major dec. Jude Swisher, P, 13-3; 184: Chris Foca, C, tech. fall Malachi DuVall, GM, 15-0 (5:00); 197: Urbas, P, major dec. Benjamin Smith, CSU, 12-3

Consolation Preliminary Round

149: Swisher, P, major dec. Jeffrey Boyd, T, 11-1; 184: DuVall, GM, pinned Tomas Brooker, APP, 1:22

First Round

149: Jackson Arrington, NCS, major dec. Swisher, P, 11-3; 184: Dustin Plott, OKS, tech. fall DuVall, GM, 18-2 (5:00); 197: Stephen Little, LR, tech. fall Urbas, P, 22-3 (4:59)