Two of a kind: Mike Roberts

A nagging injury and stiff competition at last Thursday's NCAA Wrestling Championships in St. Louis prevented junior Mike Roberts from continuing his dominance for Boston University. But his impressive season -- highlighted by a December win over then-No. 1 Dustin Schlatter of the University of Minnesota -- remains untarnished.

BU's star grappler lost both of his matches in St. Louis, the first to North Carolina State's Darrion Caldwell, whom Roberts defeated at the Southern Scuffle in December en route to earning tournament champion and MVP honors, and the second to Appalachian State's Scott Ervin.

A right foot injury suffered before the start of the postseason limited Roberts' effectiveness during the NCAAs and Colonial Athletic Association Championships, where he qualified as a wild card entrant for the national tournament.

"The trainer at one point thought it could have been a fracture," said BU coach Carl Adams of Roberts' foot injury. "He had to wear a boot around it for a week. It held him out of workouts for just long enough that you lose a little bit of conditioning and timing. Kids wrestle with injuries, but that didn't help him at the conference championship or the NCAAs."

Despite a three-match losing streak to end the year, Roberts accumulated an impressive 28-11 record this season, improving on his 27-13 mark of a year ago. Roberts has tallied 76 victories and only 28 defeats in his three years donning the scarlet and white.

Adams labeled Roberts BU's top competitor over the past three years, and levied some high expectations on the native New Yorker for his final season as a Terrier.

"We're hoping that when he finishes, he'll be an All-American or even a national champion," Adams said. "And he's got one more year to get it done."