The ISU tae kwon do team suffered a heart-breaking loss last weekend, after months of preparation for the National Collegiate Tae Kwon Do Association’s National tournament.

The competition, which was hosted by Iowa State, was dominated for the second year in a row by the University of California, Berkeley. Iowa State’s biggest rivals finished with a 60-51 advantage over Iowa State at the end of the sparring competition.

“Obviously we were pretty disappointed,” said Chris Thompson, club president and graduate student in business administration. “We lost a lot of close matches at critical times.”

However, team morale was high as Iowa State finished in second place over Texas A&M and the University of Iowa.

“Our team pulled together real well,” said Janine Wiggins, senior in liberal arts and sciences. “We’re proud of how everybody did and about our team unity.”

Wiggins, along with Miranda Hinrichs and Lucas Marpe placed bronze in the black belt sparring division.

Kelley Foreman, research assistant in biochemistry, said although the team was disappointed about the loss to Berkeley, they should all be really proud.

“I thought it ran quite smoothly,” Foreman said. “I was really pleased with how people did, especially in forms.”

Foreman won a gold as a red belt in both the forms and sparring competitions.

“The volunteer efforts were also really amazing,” Foreman said. “We’re really thankful to the Iowa State family for all their help.”

Overall, the team had 14 medalists in the black belt forms division, 10 medalists in the colored belt forms division and six medalists in the colored belt sparring division.

Berkeley’s victory over Iowa State was attributed to the strength of Berkeley’s women’s team, Wiggins said.

“The competition was good,” Wiggins said. “Berkeley’s women’s division is what helps them win. They were really strong.”

The club is still optimistic about its return to next year’s nationals. “We’re going to hopefully beat Berkeley in Texas next year,” Wiggins said.