Ross Kidau started running competitively at 10, and started taking it seriously when he was around 12. By 13, he was running at the Junior Olympics, and at 14 ran a state-middle-school-record 11.3-second 100 meter dash.
He’s now a freshman at Waunakee High School and Badger Large Conference champion in both the 100 (11.20) and 200 (22.84) – a feat that surprised even him.
“I thought I’d do good, but didn’t think I’d win,” he said in an interview ahead of tonight’s sectional meet in Verona. But something about the meet felt different.
“I think warmup felt smoother. Everything building up to the race just felt smoother,” he said.
Kidau came in at the front of a Waunakee sweep; senior Cooper Johanns came in second with a 11.35 and junior Andrew Mussallem was third in 11.46 seconds.
Kidau qualified for the sectional meet in both the 100, coming in third in the Sauk Prairie regional in 11.21 behind Middleton’s Kingston Penn and Will Mikonowicz of Reedsburg.
Waunakee head track and field coach Jennifer Grabarski said Kidau joined the program with “raw talent.”
“We’re just trying to hone it a little bit, get the details into his mind,” she said.
After some success in local youth meets, Kidau was encouraged to think bigger by mom Melissa Kidau, herself an elite sprinter in her youth in Jamaica. She and husband Sei Kidau now own and operate the Rasta Barrista coffee shop on Madison’s south side.
“I was always faster than everyone, but then I started progressively getting towards more competition, and started taking it more serious after that,” Ross Kidau said of his beginnings in youth track. “Just came to the realization (that) I can’t just beat everyone by jogging.”
“He’s used to winning,” Grabarski said. “So now, having a level of competition and people pushing him, he’s got to get more comfortable being challenged.
“He’s really driven,” she added. “He doesn’t have outside stuff pulling on him yet. It’s pretty much: ‘I get in the blocks, I run fast. If there’s a kid in front of me, I’m gonna run him down.’ He’s got the drive and the ambition to do that, and the ability.”
Training with the high school team and over the summer with the South Madison Panthers Track Club, Kidau said he’s working to hone his start and drive phase – the first half of the race, when acceleration is key.
Asked about personal goals for his high school track career, Kidau didn’t talk about state titles; rather, he aims to challenge his own times, hoping to run a 100-meter dash in 10.6 seconds or less. That would put him within striking distance of the state division two record, 10.42, held by Rice Lake alum and Olympic silver medalist Kenny Bednarek.
“I really love to hear that,” Grabarski said of Kidau’s focus on improving his time over winning meets. “I would bet if you’d talked to him at the start of the season, it would have been different. Those are things he’s been talked to about — with the level you’re at, the types of things he should be focusing on, rather than just winning. It’s about his personal best.”
Grabarski said 10.6 or faster is “absolutely” on the table for Kidau.
“And if he embraces the 200 — he’s a talented 200 runner,” she said. “Doubling the distance makes him a little more nervous, but when he gets more comfortable with it, I think he’s going to be dropping some great times in that as well.”
Grabarski said an injury earlier in the season may have been an important learning moment for Kidau, and paradoxically helped him win the conference meet. He missed about 10 days with a quadracep pull.
“He’s learned that warmups are vital,” she said. “He realized a lack of really solid warm-ups was what caused his injury. He didn’t want to be out again, so he fully rehabbed… He’s grown a lot over the season, so I’ve been really excited to see that.”
Kidau also plays running back in football, where he expects to make the varsity squad this fall. He had to start out as a lineman due to youth football weight limits — he was literally too big to play running back until seventh grade. His ultimate hope is to earn a scholarship to play football in college, where he could also continue to run track.
He credits older brother Weseley, also a football player, as an inspiration. Last time they raced head to head, a year or so ago, it was Wessley who won by a step; Ross Kidau said he’d “most definitely” win a rematch.
Kidau said he listens to J. Cole to get focused and Kanye West to get hyped ahead of meets. He said he “definitely” gets nervous ahead of a race, but locks in once he’s in the blocks. He added that he feels more pressure in a relay than an individual race, with teammates relying on him to put in a good leg.
“He’s a great kid, a great person on top of it,” Grabarksi said. “It’s fun to work with him.”
