COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – A trio of runner-up finishes paced the Ursinus men's wrestling team to a third-place showing at its annual Racich Rumble tournament on Saturday afternoon inside Floy Lewis Bakes Field House.
 
 
Seniors Anthony Cerulli (174), Nils Updale (184) and junior Sean Cowan (197) all earned second-place finishes for the Bears. Meanwhile, senior Michael Adams (125) placed third; sophomore Blaise Verdino (133) and junior Braden Kmak (157) finished fourth; and junior Andrew Schaen (141) along with sophomore Samuel Rock III (285) placed sixth.The Bears totaled 122.5 team points to finish third, while New York Unviersity (159.5) won the team title, and Messiah University (159) ranked second. 
 
 
"The coaching staff is really impressed with how we wrestled today," Director of Wrestling Joe Jamison said. "This tournament was much tougher than in years past, and we stepped up to the challenge. We emphasize our process and progress over results, and today was a huge indicator of our development. I am proud of these boys. We're off next weekend to recover, and then we're right back at it."
 
 
Cerulli opened with three consecutive first-period pins to reach the semifinals. He began with a 44-second fall over Stevens' KJ Honnig before pinning WPI's Gavin Luciano in 22 seconds. He then tallied a fall over Misericordia's Anthony Matas at the 2:02 mark of the first period to advance into the semifinals. Cerulli earned his fourth straight first-period fall by pinning New York University's Christian Gioia at the 1:09 mark before falling in the finals to NYU's Ty Finn to finish second.
 
 
At 184-pounds, Updale earned a 9-0 major decision in his opening match before defeating Johns Hopkins' Rob Moretz 8-2. In the semifinals, Updale knocked off the No. 6 seed, Joe Tully of WPI, by a 14-7 decision to advance to the championship bout. In the finals, Updale fell 7-3 to Messiah's Austin Brass, who is ranked No. 11 nationally by the NWCA.
 
 
Cowan impressed at 197, entering the tournament as the No. 8 seed. He opened with a 12-1 major decision over Trinity's Luke Hutton, then defeated top-seeded and Region I No. 1 Charlie Maloy of Western New England, 8-3. During that match, Cowan recorded a pair of reversals and four points in the final period en route to the victory. After earning a 2-0 win in the semifinals, Cowan fell 7-2 to Messiah's Tucker Seidel to place second.
 
 
In the 133-pound weight class, Verdino collected a 17-2 technical fall in his opener and advanced to the quarterfinals with an 8-2 decision over NYU's Matt Darcy. Verdino then defeated Western New England's Austin Mitrosky 7-3 before dropping a 15-7 decision in the semifinals. In the consolation bracket, Verdino used a second-period takedown en route to a 5-4 decision over Trinity's Matthew Carrozza.
 
 
The Bears return to action on Saturday, Nov. 22, when they travel to Dallas, Pennsylvania, for the Misericordia Invitational at noon.