ISU senior wrestler Zach Roberson will hang up his cardinal and gold uniform for good after winning a national championship last weekend in St. Louis’ Sawis Center.

Roberson outwrestled Penn State’s Josh Moore 7-3 in the championship match, making him the NCAA champion at 133 pounds. Though Roberson was able to wrestle his way into the championship, his efforts could only take head coach Bobby Douglas’ Cyclones so far. The Cyclones finished sixth in the NCAA Championships.

“It was a super moment for Roberson. It was the climax of a Cinderella collegiate story that opens the doorway to his future objective, which is to win the gold medal in the Olympics,” Douglas said.

“Roberson has had a great career, and he capped it off by being another one of Iowa State’s national champions. He’ll go down in the record books.”

Roberson’s victory is the 62nd individual national championship in the history of the ISU wrestling program. Douglas credited Roberson, as well as his staff of coaches and athletic trainers with last weekend’s win.

“It’s a good feeling. I’ve been trying to do this for a long time, and I finally did,” Roberson said. “Everybody on the team was happy for me; it was fun. [Winning the championship] was by far the highlight of my career, followed closely by the Iowa win.” The Cyclones beat the Hawkeyes 21-13 Dec. 7 for their first win in 30 tries against Iowa.

Roberson said he was able to use film to study Moore and concentrate on mistakes made in the past which resulted in an almost flawless championship match, Douglas said.

“The match was a very tactical match. The individual, Moore, from Penn State had beaten Roberson last year, and we learned from that match and we took advantage of the mistakes that they made, and we didn’t make any,” Douglas said.

“We had a better plan, and we had film; we didn’t have film last year. The staff did an excellent job of preparing him. I served more as an administrator and let them do the coaching.”

Although the NCAA season is officially over for the Cyclones, many wrestlers, including Roberson, are preparing for the National Freestyle Tournament in Las Vegas, which will take place April 8-10.

Roberson said he plans to attend graduate school at Iowa State after his graduation this spring.

He is currently training with Douglas as a member of Iowa State’s Wrestling Club and hopes to qualify in the upcoming Olympic trials, which would place him in the upcoming summer Olympics, held in Athens, Greece, Douglas said.

“Winning a national championship was a great way to finish my senior year,” Roberson said.