For David Rotich, the NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., was a weekend to remember. For Ada Anderson, it was a weekend to look ahead.

Rotich finished the weekend as the national runner-up in the mile, finishing second to Kansas State’s Christian Smith, who posted the slowest winning performance in the history of the championships. Smith finished with a time of 4:12.79, while Rotich ran a 4:13.12. The start of the race left the pace moving slowly.

“It was really, really slow,” said men’s coach Steve Lynn. “They were just almost walking. David [Rotich] said, ‘Hey, if you’re going to do that, I think I’ll be able to run at the end.'”

In the final 500 meters, Smith broke free of the pack and Rotich moved from ninth to second in the final 400 meters.

“With 400 [meters] left, everybody started racing, and David [Rotich] had a lot of speed,” Lynn said. “Smith ran a smart race and was able to pull away, and David [Rotich] did a heck of job to get up there, too.”

Rotich felt the pace worked out in his favor.

“The way it turned out favored people who could sprint at the end, and I’m one of those people so it worked out my way,” Rotich said.

Rotich ran a 4:03.16 in the preliminary race, which was barely good enough for the 10th and final transfer spot. Rotich said he was a lot more nervous during the prelims.

“I don’t know what was going through my mind, it was so tough,” Rotich said.

“When I ran it I got boxed in almost the whole time, and I just barely made the final.”

In the end, however, Rotich made it, and gave his mom – who watched him run for the first time – and the rest of his family something to cheer about.

“They were very happy. My mom was the voice cheering for me,” Rotich said.

For Anderson, becoming a three-time All-American was bittersweet when she finished in ninth place in the preliminary race, one spot out of the finals for the 800-meter run.

“It was nice to make All-American, but I would have rather earned my All-American by making the final,” Anderson said.

Anderson said the time of 2:06.49 was a mediocre race for her, which wasn’t good enough.

“It wasn’t my best race, it wasn’t my worst, so in that way I felt OK about my race,” Anderson said. “Obviously I wasn’t happy about not making finals.”

Coach Dick Lee said the first part of the race went well, but the final stretch was where Anderson struggled.

“She ran great through 700 meters, and then she wasn’t able to keep her race going the last hundred,” Lee said. “A couple tenths of a second made the difference of whether you made it to finals or not.”

Lee said that if Anderson had made it, she would have had a shot at winning the finals.

“She would have done well in that race, but you have to get there to have that opportunity, and unfortunately it didn’t happen,” Lee said.

Anderson said the goal now is to do well in the outdoor season.

“I’m just ready for outdoor, and ending my season on a good note,” Anderson said. “We’re going to look at some different aspects of my race, and just start getting stronger at the end, because that’s where I need my strength, is at the end of my race.”

Lee said he was confident Anderson would have more success during the outdoor season.

“She’s motivated for outdoors to make sure that she hits the finals in the outdoor nationals,” Lee said.

Up next for the Cyclone track teams is the Rice Invitational in Houston on March 31 and April 1 to begin the outdoor season.