For David Rotich, the dreams of a lifetime have been coming true this season.

Rotich transferred to Iowa State from Spring Arbor University in Michigan, where he won the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics national championship in the 800-meter dash in 2004.

Nonetheless, the senior from Eldoret, Kenya, said he has always been a little disappointed in his college career but is changing that in his first and only year of track at Iowa State.

“I’ve been frustrated all along in my college running career. It’s never been as perfect as I wanted it to be,” Rotich said. “I feel like this year all the doors that I’ve always been trying to open, opened.”

The biggest of those doors opened earlier this month, when Rotich ran a mile in less than 4 minutes to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships for track and field, in which he took national runner-up honors.

Making the weekend extra special for Rotich was having his parents, Nathan Kiprotich Sang and Margaret Sang, watch him run for the first time in his collegiate career.

“I don’t even know how to describe it. It was a great honor for me,” Rotich said. “I felt like I have to do something for them to come watch me run. Having my mother there was just amazing.”

Having the opportunity for his parents to watch him run put extra pressure on Rotich both during the qualifying meet and the preliminary race at nationals.

“I was just under so much pressure because I knew they were coming, so I really had to make sure I qualified,” Rotich said.

“The prelims at nationals were even worse than anything else, because I was just so nervous and I wanted to make the finals.”

As special as it was for Rotich to have his parents there, it may have been even more special for his mother.

“My mom has four children who came to the U.S. on scholarship,” Rotich said.

“That was really special for her because she had never seen any of them except for video.”

Rotich doesn’t get to see his parents very often, traveling home to Kenya only once every couple of years at most.

Rotich, who came to Ames after his brother Abraham ran for the Cyclones, feels as though he has made his own life in the city.

“When I got here, I met great people,” Rotich said. “I’m just comfortable here.”

Among those great people were his teammates, whom Rotich said he will miss after he graduates this spring.

“I have great friends on the team. We’re really close, and we work together and I just love it,” Rotich said. “I have only one semester to go, and I’m going to miss it.”

Coach Steve Lynn said he has been impressed with the impact Rotich made.

“He immediately comes in, and he told [Assistant] Coach [Corey] Ihmels before the season started, ‘I want to take your name off the record board,'” Lynn said. “Sure enough, he did it by the end of the year.”

Ihmels ran a sub-4-minute mile as a runner at Iowa State, a mark which Rotich got the better of this year.

Lynn said the biggest tool for success for Rotich has been his work ethic.

“David [Rotich] has strength and David has speed, but the biggest thing he has is heart,” Lynn said. “He’s a very, very big competitor, and no matter what the race is, he’s going to compete to try to win.”