Nebraska’s relay ‘dream team’ heads to Big Ten championships

A tornado had whipped through Nebraska and parts of Iowa a day earlier, but Des Moines was warm and pleasant that Saturday at the Drake Relays. The conditions were right for the debut of what Schultz called a “dream team.”

Injuries had prevented Schultz, Tyrell Pierce, Garrett Kaalund and Nick Bryant from running together that season, but they all knew they made up Nebraska’s strongest quartet. Now was their chance to prove it, the moment they had been waiting for.

“We’d been talking about this since indoor season,” Pierce said, “so once we figured out we were gonna be the four legs for the 4×4 at Drake, we just knew like OK, this is gonna be special.”

The way he kept pace with Kentucky’s Brandon Nyandoro off the blocks clued Pierce in that Nebraska had a chance to deliver on the four runners’ expectations. The Huskers’ final time of 3:03.31 was less than half a second behind the Wildcats and the third-fastest time in NU history.

Now, Pierce, Kaalund, Schultz and Bryant head to the Big Ten championships, beginning Friday in Ann Arbor, Michigan with loftier goals in mind: a conference win and setting a Big Ten record in the 4×400.

“It gave us supreme confidence,” Bryant said. “I don’t think there wasn’t one person who felt as if they were confident in their skills and their talents. It gave everyone that confidence that everyone needed to just continue doing track and field because, you gotta understand, it’s just a sport about running in circles, so it gets very hard when you can’t perform.”

Kaalund and Schultz are both sophomores by eligibility, but Schultz has been at Nebraska longer. Bryant is a fifth-year senior who began his college career at Southeast Missouri State. Pierce, a former sprinter and football receiver at Division III Knox College, came to Nebraska to find out how fast he could be if he focused on track.

After assembling in Lincoln, they quickly connected. Schultz hosted Kaalund on his campus visit and lives with Pierce. When Pierce came to Nebraska, Kaalund was one of the first people he met. They’re now training partners. Bryant is the elder statesman of the group and the anchor of the relay.

Another veteran, Pierce sees it as one of his responsibilities to instill confidence in his teammates, to prop up Kaalund when the sophomore is anxious before a meet. But even in relatively serious moments, it’s a loose group.

“We’re all goofy,” Pierce said. “We’re gonna joke. We’re all the jokesters on the team. We always (tell) the jokes, keeping practice fun.”

Said Schultz: “Me and Garrett always mess around. Any conversation we have is hardly ever serious.”

In the moments leading up to the race in Iowa, the runners’ individual confidence didn’t match their belief in the group’s collective potential. Bryant had been banged up all season and was starting to question whether or not he still had the juice to compete at a high level. Pierce had run 400 meters the day before with a time in the 47-second range; he hovered in the low 46 area at Knox.

And Kaalund hadn’t run that season after a hamstring injury he thought was a spasm turned out to be a strain. He thought he would have to redshirt until the pain subsided three days earlier.

“I was thinking that, man, they’re about to pass me up,” Kaalund said. “I’m gonna get the baton. Any lead we had, I was gonna lose it. I didn’t have much confidence. I thought I was not gonna run well. I was extremely nervous. I was pacing around. I was thinking a lot. And even during the warmup, in my head, I was like, ‘Man, I feel slow right now. Do I have enough endurance? Am I about to die out?’”

Kaalund hasn’t had any pain in his hamstring in recent weeks; he says it now feels better than before he got injured. He’ll be back in action in Michigan, taking the baton from Pierce and passing it off to Schultz, a middle distance runner whose steady endurance makes him ideal for the third leg of the relay.

Bryant is the anchor. He was often the first leg a season ago, but he wanted to be last this year. Even in a successful weekend at Drake, he was frustrated that he wasn’t able to close the gap on Kentucky and win the 4×400. He’ll have a chance at redemption in Ann Arbor, where the spotlight will shine on him for another moment.

“It’s a hard pill to swallow at times that you’re gonna be that guy, win or lose,” Bryant said. “I call it Kobe Bryant moments. You’re gonna be that guy that closes the show regardless. Win or lose, you’re gonna have to do it and you’re gonna have to put up that shot even if you’re not in the best mental or just physical. You’re gonna have to be that guy.”