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ST. LOUIS — Coleman Scott's long and sometimes bitter journey to the top step of the awards podium came to a triumphant end Saturday night at the NCAA Championships at Scottrade Center.

Scott pinned Iowa's Joey Slaton at 0:49 to capture his first and only national championship. When it was over, the Pennsylvania native could barely contain his emotions, bear-hugging Oklahoma State coach John Smith and assistant Eric Guerrero.

The 133-pound final was over almost as soon as it began. Scott scored a takedown in the first few seconds and then got Slaton on his back with a shot and held him there for the fall. A win of any kind would have made Scott happy, but he went out with style after losing in last year's finals.

"It's awesome,” he said. "It's what you dream about. You go to sleep at night and stuff is running through your head and that's what you're picturing, getting that pin.”

Scott's win helped OSU to a tie for fifth in the team race. The Cowboys and Iowa State finished with 72 points. Iowa took home the NCAA team title with 117.5 points.

The quickness of Scott's win surprised Smith. All of Scott's NCAA Championships matches this year had ended in decisions.

"It wasn't something that we were expecting. We were expecting a seven-minute hard match. It was definitely a bonus to see it end in 49 seconds with a pin.”

While Scott's pure joy overflowed after his championship win, emotions of a different kind got the better of him at the Big 12 Championships. He lost his cool and his first-round match loss against Missouri's Tyler McCormick. Scott finished third, but didn't have much use for the bronze medal.

"I was real upset with myself,” he said. "I threw it in the trash can. I just decided to clean it off and start new and take it to the next level in the week and a half leading in and that's what I did. I kept taking it up and it was awesome.”

Scott said he was grateful for the adversity he faced that included a knee injury early in the season.

"I don't think it's been an easy year for Coleman,” Smith said. "He's been a leader in a lot of ways. Obviously we've had our struggles throughout the year and he put a lot of it on his shoulders. It hasn't been a perfect season for him, but he kind of clawed his way though it.”

Scott wasn't the only Cowboy in action Saturday.

Heavyweight Jared Rosholt finished fourth. The sophomore went 29-3 in the regular season and won a Big 12 Championship, avenging a loss in the conference finals as a freshman. He was seeded fifth at the NCAAs, but won his first three matches before losing 3-2 to Northwestern's Dustin Fox Thursday night.

"It's been a pretty good tournament,” Rosholt said. "It's not where I planned on finishing for sure. It could have gone either way on a couple of matches. Champions go for it and I didn't go for it when I needed to.”

Rosholt lost his third place match with Navy's Ed Pendergast Saturday morning 4-1. Getting up for it was hard after Friday night's loss.

"It's hard to come back after that because you had your sights set on winning and you lose,” he said. "It's hard to pick yourself back up.”

Rosholt still took huge steps in his second season. He will likely be ranked No. 1 at his weight before next season. A big part of his success this year was related to gaining weight, though he won't make that a focus of this off-season.

"You don't realize how much 15 or 20 pounds can do for you,” he said. "When you're my size and you're quicker than everyone else you just have to work off your skill. I don't think size matters when you get to that point.”

Senior Nathan Morgan lost a 1-0 semifinal heartbreaker Friday night. He ends his career at OSU with a fourth-place finish, the same as his junior season. Morgan breezed through his first two matches, earning a tech fall and a pin.

Jack Jensen (184) was the Cowboys' fourth All-American. Tyler Shinn (125), Jake Dieffenbach (165) Brandon Mason (174) also qualified for the NCAA Championships but didn't reach All-American status. Shinn and Mason will return next season.

This year's version of the Cowboys didn't quite achieve what Smith hoped.

"I think we got a lot of miles for what they were going to give me,” he said. "When you have a team that's not very talented that's going to have to wrestle hard and beat people a little better than you there's certain things that need to take place. We fell a little bit short of what we thought we could do.”