By Steve Holt, Sports Writer
While American teenagers haggled with stubborn parents to get a driver’s license or attend the school dance, a 16-year-old named Nicodemus Naimadu trekked into the Kenyan bush to become a man. Before Naimadu and his peers would ever be able to marry, they would have to go through three months of training in tribal customs and skills for living in rural east Africa. Elders would have to take them away from the rest of the tribe to pass down the values they had received decades earlier.
The biggest challenge in the “coming-of-age” tradition, however, would take the young Naimadu and his peers on a three-week hunting trip with nothing but shields, spears, bows and arrows; a hunting trip to kill the king of African beasts, the lion.
“It is not a guarantee that all of you should come back alive,” said Naimadu, a sophomore who already has a cross country individual title and three track and field national titles on his resume.
But Naimadu and the other adolescent boys didn’t kill a lion on their excursion, they killed two lions.
The 21-year-old runner has been in the United States for more than a year, before which he knew nothing but his rural Kenyan village of Narok and the tribal Massai people, a people who have kept almost perfectly intact their culture and customs of more than 500 years despite the rapid Westernization of their country. For instance, Naimadu is missing one of his bottom front teeth after it was ceremonially removed, a custom practiced with both male and female Maasais.
Naimadu said the tradition of lion hunting, which has officially been stopped elsewhere in Africa but continues among some rural tribes like the Maasai, is the last test before a boy enters manhood and is no longer the community’s responsibility but his parents’.
“When they return from seclusion, they are now able to choose the kind of life they want, maybe to get married, continue their education,” Naimadu said.
After his passage ordeal, Naimadu’s parents chose education for their middle child, a decision that wasn’t always valued among the cattle-herding Maasai. But Naimadu said his parents always emphasized the importance of education for their children.
“My parents said, ‘Go for education,'” he said. “I had to listen to them.”
Wazungu Visits
Naimadu discovered his natural running talent as a sophomore at Moi Amalo Secondary School in Narok after a coach noticed his endurance in the other favorite African sport, soccer. The short, slender Naimadu competed for his secondary school and graduated with phenomenal prep times of 9:27 in the 3,000-meter run, 14:37 in the 5,000-meter run, and 30:20 in the 10,000 meters.
Upon graduation, most of Naimadu’s teammates earned Division I scholarships to run at universities in the United States. His parents, again emphasizing the importance of education over athletics, made their son attend the local Kamwenja College to study teaching. It was here, however, that the 19-year-old began to turn both Kenyan and American heads.
One of those heads belonged to Jon Murray, then the ACU cross country coach, who first saw Naimadu compete on a recruiting trip in July 2004.
“My first contact with Nicodemus was watching him run at that Teachers College national championship at Mosoroit Teacher’s College outside of Eldoret, Kenya,” said Murray, who now runs the distance program at Texas Tech. “He won the steeplechase by 14 seconds, the 5,000 meters by 15 seconds, and the 10,000 meters by one minute 33 seconds over a two day period. It was an impressive display of running.”
Naimadu remembers the events of that meet vividly.
“After I won the 5,000, my coach said, ‘I have seen one of the Wazungu [white men] here trying to post information on how people are running. You should run better in the 10,000,'” he remembered. “In the 10,000, I lapped everybody.
“After that, my coach came to me and said, ‘We talked with [Murray]. He might recruit you. The steeplechase is waiting for you.’ After winning the steeplechase, my coach said, ‘there’s a Wazungu that wants to talk with you. He has some forms he wants you to fill out.'”
Three weeks later, the young man who had only a few times left his village had a ticket to attend a Christian university almost 9,000 miles away in Abilene, TX.
“In international student-athlete recruiting time that was warp speed,” Murray said. “I was blessed to be able to get him to come to the US so quickly. When I went to Kenya that summer the plans were to find student-athletes for the following January or the next year.”
Murray may not have known at the time how blessed he really was to have Naimadu suiting up in ACU purple. The true freshman placed seventh among heavy Division I competition at the Oklahoma State Cowboy Jamboree in 2004, then followed that performance up with a second-place finish at the Lone Star Conference Championships. Everything clicked for Naimadu, however, in the last two races of the season. The Kenyan ran away with the NCAA Division II South Central Region title, winning the 10-kilometer race by almost a minute, before becoming just the second Wildcat to capture the coveted individual NCAA Division II national title.
Naimadu makes clicking off four-and-a-half-minute miles look easy on the track. The freshman followed up his stellar cross country season by claiming track and field individual titles in the 5,000-meter run (indoors and outdoors) and the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
It turned out one of Naimadu’s tribal customs even helped him in the steeplechase – Maasai youth have for centuries participated in the custom of jumping in the air from a standing position in order to demonstrate their strength and agility. At the 2005 NCAA Division II Track and Field National Championships in Abilene, Naimadu was a fan favorite for his near-sprint pace and ability to completely clear the water pit on every lap of the 7 1/2 lap-race.
“The steeplechase was just for fun,” said Naimadu, who looked relaxed and in control in both the semifinal and final heats. “It was just kind of fun jumping all the way [over the water].”
Defending a Title
This season Naimadu is attempting to do what no Wildcat runner has ever done – defend his cross country title. Based on his performances so far this fall, few can doubt his ability to do so.
The sophomore has been the No. 1 runner for ACU at each of the first three meets, including an impressive win at the Great American Cross Country Festival in Cary, N.C., and a hard-fought fifth-place finish among Division I competition at the Oklahoma State Cowboy Jamboree. Saturday he will get another shot at top runners from the University of Arkansas, which is ranked No. 1 in the Division I coaches’ poll.
Wildcat head coach Derek Hood, who took over the distance program in August, said an athlete like Naimadu positively affects the entire team.
“When you know you’ve got a guy that can contend to win literally every meet that you enter, it’s a big load of pressure off the rest of the team because they know there’s someone on the team that’s going to go out there and contend for the title,” Hood said. “For the team support it’s great, for the morale it’s great, and it provides a great workout environment.”
Hood said that though Naimadu is quiet, he is a leader.
“When it comes time for competitions, he takes the leadership role,” Hood said. “We were at Oklahoma State, and we were on the starting line, and he rounded everybody up and led the prayer for the team. He is a strong, silent-type leader.”
Though quiet, Naimadu also brings a unique sense of humor to the Wildcat cross country team, often playfully teasing younger African teammates about their less-than-perfect English.
But Naimadu was in their shoes not too long ago.
“We’re talking about a kid who was a freshman last year,” Hood said. “Now he’s acting like a veteran. He brings such poise and preparation on meet days.”
While a Wildcat, Naimadu said he wants to continually improve his times. A nursing major at ACU, Naimadu said he will attempt to compete professionally upon graduation, but recognizes that he will only be able to run for so long.
“I really expect that one day, I will be representing Kenya in the Olympics and World Championships,” said the sophomore.
Though now a Texas Tech, Murray still keeps an eye on Naimadu’s progress. He said he sees virtually no end to his improvement in the sport, and said the Kenyan has the best chance of any previous ACU distance runner to compete professionally.
“That is a big statement when you consider the success Kenyan athletes have on the professional circuit,” Murray said. “I anticipate Nicodemus winning many national individual championships for ACU and then moving on to conquer the world.”
Before he can conquer the world, however, Naimadu has two cross country and three track and field seasons to complete. When the time comes, however, for Naimadu to showcase his talent for the world, he will have Maasai friends, family, and elders in Narok, Kenya, to vouch that his true identity runs deeper than just a sport or a talent.
He will not represent his people only as Nicodemus Naimadu; he will represent them as a Maasai warrior.
of Eldoret, Kenya,” said Murray, who now runs the distance program at Texas Tech University. “He won the steeplechase by 14 seconds, the 5,000 meters by 15 seconds and the 10,000 meters by one minute 33 seconds over a two-day period. It was an impressive display of running.”
Naimadu remembers the events of that meet vividly.
“After I won the 5,000, my coach said, ‘I have seen one of the Wazungu [white men] here trying to post information on how people are running. You should run better in the 10,000,'” he remembered. “In the 10,000, I lapped everybody.
“After that, my coach came to me and said, ‘We talked with [Murray]. He might recruit you. The steeplechase is waiting for you.’ After winning the steeplechase, my coach said, ‘there’s a Wazungu that wants to talk with you. He has some forms he wants you to fill out.'”
Three weeks later, the young man, who had only a few times left his village, had a ticket to attend a Christian university almost 9,000 miles away in Abilene.
“In international student-athlete recruiting time, that was warp speed,” Murray said. “I was blessed to be able to get him to come to the US so quickly. When I went to Kenya that summer the plans were to find student-athletes for the following January or the next year.”
Murray may not have known at the time how blessed he really was to have Naimadu suiting up in ACU purple. The true freshman placed seventh among heavy Division I competition at the Oklahoma State Cowboy Jamboree in 2004, then followed that performance up with a second-place finish at the Lone Star Conference Championships. Everything clicked for Naimadu, however, in the last two races of the season. The Kenyan ran away with the NCAA Division II South Central Region title, winning the 10-kilometer race by almost a minute, before becoming just the second Wildcat to capture the coveted individual NCAA Division II national title.
Naimadu makes clicking off four-and-a-half-minute miles look easy on the track. The freshman followed up his stellar cross country season by claiming track and field individual titles in the 5,000-meter run (indoors and outdoors) and the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
It turned out one of Naimadu’s tribal customs even helped him in the steeplechase-Maasai youth have for centuries participated in the custom of jumping in the air from a standing position in order to demonstrate their strength and agility. At the 2005 NCAA Division II Track and Field National Championships in Abilene, Naimadu was a fan favorite for his near-sprint pace and ability to completely clear the water pit on every lap of the 7 1/2 lap race.
“The steeplechase was just for fun,” said Naimadu, who looked relaxed and in control in both the semifinal and final heats. “It was just kind of fun jumping all the way [over the water].”
Defending a Title
This season Naimadu is attempting to do what no Wildcat runner has ever done, defend his cross country title. Based on his performances so far this fall, few can doubt his ability to do so.
The sophomore has been the No. 1 runner for ACU at each of the first three meets, including an impressive win at the Great American Cross Country Festival in Cary, N.C., and a hard-fought fifth-place finish among Division I competition at the Oklahoma State Cowboy Jamboree. Saturday he will get another shot at top runners from the University of Arkansas, which is ranked No. 1 in the Division I coaches’ poll.
Wildcat head coach Derek Hood, who took over the distance program in August, said an athlete like Naimadu positively affects the entire team.
“When you know you’ve got a guy that can contend to win literally every meet that you enter, it’s a big load of pressure off the rest of the team because they know there’s someone on the team that’s going to go out there and contend for the title,” Hood said. “For the team support it’s great, for the morale it’s great, and it provides a great workout environment.”
Hood said that though Naimadu is quiet, he is a leader.
“When it comes time for competitions, he takes the leadership role,” Hood said. “We were at Oklahoma State, and we were on the starting line, and he rounded everybody up and led the prayer for the team. He is a strong, silent-type leader.”
Though quiet, Naimadu also brings a unique sense of humor to the Wildcat cross country team, often playfully teasing younger African teammates about their less-than-perfect English.
But Naimadu was in their shoes not too long ago.
“We’re talking about a kid who was a freshman last year,” Hood said. “Now he’s acting like a veteran. He brings such poise and preparation on meet days.”
While a Wildcat, Naimadu said he wants to continually improve his times. A nursing major at ACU, Naimadu said he will attempt to compete professionally upon graduation, but recognizes that he will only be able to run for so long.
“I really expect that one day, I will be representing Kenya in the Olympics and World Championships,” the sophomore said.
Though now at Texas Tech, Murray still keeps an eye on Naimadu’s progress. He said he sees virtually no end to his improvement in the sport, and said the Kenyan has the best chance of any previous ACU distance runner to compete professionally.
“That is a big statement when you consider the success Kenyan athletes have on the professional circuit,” Murray said. “I anticipate Nicodemus winning many national individual championships for ACU and then moving on to conquer the world.”
Before he can conquer the world, however, Naimadu has two cross country and three track and field seasons to complete. When the time comes, however, for Naimadu to showcase his talent for the world, he will have Maasai friends, family and elders in Narok, Kenya, to vouch that his true identity runs deeper than just a sport or a talent. He will not represent his people only as Nicodemus Naimadu; he will represent them as a Maasai warrior.
