Nebraska’s ‘Cinderella’ relay team; heartbreaking Hoffman news; hiker update

That was the prevailing thought after Nebraska’s men’s 400-meter relay team did the unthinkable last week at the NCAA Outdoor West First Round meet in Sacramento, California.

Heading into the meet, the Huskers were seeded No. 21 out of 24 teams with a seed time of 39.63 seconds.

But once the gun went off on that Friday, a Cinderella story to end all Cinderella stories. Out of Lane 1, the Huskers darted to a third-place finish with a time of :39.03, advancing NU’s 400 relay team to the national meet for the first time since 2016.

That’s not a good time. That’s a great time. And a school record, no less.

To quote sprints/hurdles coach Brenton Emanuel, “It’s a very interesting story.”

Before the outdoor season began, Emanuel told star hurdlers Darius Luff and Brithton Senior that they’d alternate on the relay this year. In reality, though, Senior had been dealing with hamstring tightness on and off this year, so Luff got the nod more frequently.

The original plan was to have Luff run the lead-off spot at regionals, but after Luff made the quarterfinals in the 110-meter hurdles and Senior didn’t, Emanuel pivoted.

The 400-meter relay was set to start at 5 p.m., while the 110-meter hurdles were set to begin at 6:15 p.m. No use in tiring out Luff when Senior is talented, too. Plus, Senior had been on the track for NU’s fastest time of the season — though in the anchor spot rather than the lead-off runner.

“I really had no idea what was going to happen with Brithton because we didn’t talk about block starts with the baton, but we’d practiced it the day before and hand-offs went OK,” Emanuel said. “I told him that the world record was set in Lane 1 and all you need is an opportunity to run fast and to make nationals.”

Senior’s start was smooth. All three exchanges were “great.” Before Emanuel knew it, the foursome of Senior, Kavian Kerr, Lorenzo Paissan and GarrettKaalund had darted around the track in :39.09 — a time that was a tenth of a second faster than the 17-year-old program record.

When Emanuel saw the final time, he was floored.

“I knew that it could happen, but not out of Lane 1 to be honest with you,” Emanuel said with a laugh. “That was a big surprise.”

Turns out, Senior was quite comfortable doing block starts with the baton.

In Jamaica, Senior’s home country, he’s always the first leg.

The men’s 400-meter relay semifinal is the first track event at nationals and will run at 6:32 p.m. on Wednesday. If the Huskers advance to the finals — they’re tied with LSU for the fifth-fastest time from regionals — that race will take place on Friday.

Congratulations are in order for Nebraska Wesleyan’s Ted Bulling.

After 38 years of helming the cross country and track programs at NWU, the former Prairie Wolf is retiring. While at NWU, Bulling won the national coach of the year five times and coached 40 national champions — including two I profiled earlier this year in Scott and Eli Etherton.

There aren’t enough inches in the newspaper to list all of Bulling’s accomplishments, and yet in the press release announcing his retirement, he focused on the relationships he’s formed in his 40-some years as a Prairie Wolf.

All class. Congrats, Ted.

There is no better time for Nebraska to take an international trip.

The roster is very different compared to last season, as the Huskers have six newcomers. Five of them are freshmen — setter Bergen Reilly, defensive specialist Laney Choboy, outside Caroline Jurevicius, middle Andi Jackson and outside Harper Murray — while the sixth, opposite Merritt Beason is a junior transfer from Florida.

With all the new faces, Nebraska has plenty to figure out.

Who starts at setter: Junior Kennedi Orr or Reilly?

Who is NU’s second middle in addition to sophomore Bekka Allick?

Who mans the outside in addition to junior Lindsay Krause?

Through their first two matches, it’s too early to get a clear picture since coach John Cook and Co. are intentionally playing a variety of lineups to figure things out ahead of the season.

Heartbreaking news came out of Atkinson last week.

Jack Hoffman — the namesake of the Team Jack Foundation who Nebraska fans came to love after his spring game touchdown run in 2013 — and his medical team discovered tumor growth in his latest MRI. Jack, 17, has scans every three months, but this was the first time in four years that his MRI had shown tumor growth.

Doctors have recommended surgery. If the Hoffmans choose to go that route, it will be Jack’s third tumor resection surgery. But, the family is still figuring out the best course of action.

For those who enjoyed my serendipitous column with Briana DeSanctis, the Maine woman trekking through America on the American Discovery Trail… she’s made a significant amount of progress since I ran into her in early April in Brainard.

She crossed the border into Colorado on May 8 and reached Denver in late May.

In addition to traversing through the rest of Colorado, she still has three more states to go: Utah, Nevada and California.