COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – Behind four runner-up finishes, the Ursinus men's wrestling team earned a third-place finish at the New Standard Invitational on Saturday, hosted by York College.
 
 
Senior Anthony Cerulli (174), juniors Braden Kmak (165), Sean Cowan (197) and Mohamed Abdelatty (285) paced the Bears' lineup, each finishing second in their respective weight classes. Senior Nils Updale (184) and junior Andrew Schaen (141) placed third and fourth, respectively.
 
 
"The coaching staff is proud of how the boys wrestled all weekend," said Joe Jamison, Ursinus director of wrestling. "This is one of the toughest in-season tournaments on the East Coast, and to place third is a great accomplishment. We have never had a finalist here, and to have four is impressive. When the current seniors were first-years, we finished in last place, so this weekend's performance really shows our development as a program."
 
 
Ursinus totaled 118.5 team points to finish third in the 16-team field. No. 8 North Central won the team title with 129.5 points, while No. 22 Washington & Lee (125.5) finished second. No. 17 Ithaca (111) placed fourth, No. 11 Johnson & Wales (105) took fifth and No. 3 TCNJ (81.5) rounded out the top six.
 
 
In the 157-pound bracket, Kmak opened with three straight first-period pins to reach the semifinals. The No. 2 seed began with a 47-second fall over Marymount's Jackson Fulcher before pinning Misericordia's Chase Stephen at the 53-second mark. In the quarterfinals, he pinned Alfred State's Owen Cummings at the 1:14 mark before defeating Misericordia's Myles Tirpak by a 12-8 decision to reach the finals. In the championship bout, Kmak fell by fall to 10th-ranked Luke Flanagan of Washington & Lee to take second. Kmak improved to 16-5 on the season, with 10 of his wins coming by fall.
 
 
Cerulli, the top seed in the 174-pound bracket, posted a 4-1 record to finish second. He opened with a 7-0 decision over Eastern's Darrale Barrett and recorded a 19-second pin over Misericordia's Jeremiah Ribeiro to reach the quarterfinals. After a first-period pin against Penn College's Jason Petrooski, Cerulli pinned Merchant Marine Academy's Andrew Huesgen to advance to the finals. In the title bout, Cerulli fell by a 9-2 decision to North Central's Jake Luce.
 
 
Cowan, the fifth seed in the 197-pound bracket, went 3-1 to earn the runner-up finish. In the round of 16, Cowan recorded a 16-1 technical fall over Delaware Valley's Neil Miller before defeating fourth-seeded Anthony Fernandez of Johnson & Wales by a 6-0 decision. In the semifinals, Cowan advanced via medical forfeit against fourth-ranked John Santowski of Washington & Lee before falling in the finals by technical fall to York's second-seeded Josh Stahl.
 
 
Abdelatty became the fourth Ursinus wrestler to earn a runner-up finish, posting a 4-1 record in the 285-pound bracket. He recorded a seven-second fall over Delaware Valley's Juan Zurita in the round of 32 before pinning Alfred State's Colton Hai in 32 seconds. Abdelatty then tallied an 8-2 decision over top-seeded and fifth-ranked Adolfo Betancur of Johnson & Wales. During the match, Abdelatty recorded an escape to open the second period before adding a takedown and near fall to take a 7-2 lead into the final period. Betancur earned All-American status last season by finishing sixth at the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships. In the semifinals, Abdelatty pinned Ithaca's Kamdyn Dorchester at the 4:31 mark before falling in the finals to Washington & Lee's Carter Stack by a 7-6 decision.


 
The Bears return to action Friday, December 19th, at the Gator Boot Duals in Nashville, Tennessee.