Nebraska softball fans will remember Waverly native Jaime Borg as a hard-working player with a team-first attitude who set the tone on the field, in the weight room, in the classroom and pretty much anywhere that would help the Huskers succeed.
Now married and the mother of three young girls, Jaime Seeman has used what she learned during her Nebraska career and carried it into her successful private practice in Omaha as an obstetrician and gynecologist.
"I took a lot of things I learned training as an athlete into my world of medicine," Seeman said. "I make so many parallels between standing on the pitcher's mound with the ball and going into the operating room to do surgery.
"It's not only physical preparation, but it's mental preparation. It's resiliency and it's leadership."
Seeman hadn't planned on using those traits to succeed in sports ever again.
"When I left Nebraska (in 2007) and went to medical school, I kind of thought my days of athletic competition were over," Seeman said. "I was hanging up my athlete hat and putting on my doctor hat and being a mom."
That changed when a scrub technician in the operating room told Seeman she should apply to be on The Titan Games, a television series on NBC that features everyday professionals who have inspirational stories and backgrounds – oh, and sheer athleticism they need to put to the test in physically challenging obstacles.
Seeman wasn't aware of the competition until the first season, hosted by "The Rock" Dwayne Johnson, was nearly complete.
"I went as far as to look up the application," Seeman said, "and then I was like, 'Uh, I don't know if I could do that.' I just had a lot of self-doubt. I'm a mom of three, I work as a doctor. And it had been many years since I had competed athletically."
Then Seeman remembered why she had returned to training hard in the gym, eating healthier and developing an overall healthier lifestyle only a couple of years earlier.
"I had a really horrible tragedy happen in 2015 when I lost one of my best friends in the middle of her pregnancy," Seeman said. "It was kind of one of those moments in your life when you really start to re-evaluate things and look at life through a different lens. I started living my life with a different purpose and a different passion.
"It really manifested a lot of changes in my life, not only physically, but I feel like I became a better doctor and a better mom."
In honor of her friend, Seeman made a video and submitted her application to The Titan Games, and months later learned she had been selected among 100 candidates to audition for the show. She went through physical challenges and a series of interviews during a combine in California.
A few days later, producers informed Seeman she would be among 18 women, along with 18 men, competing in season two of The Titan Games. The first of 13 episodes airs May 25 on NBC.
"I was amazed I made it that far after I really doubted myself in the beginning," Seeman said. "It was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. It felt so good to get back to competing."
The experience also added more fuel to her fire to prove her purpose in life.
"It really was an inspirational thing, not only for my friend that I had lost, but really for my three daughters," Seeman said. "I never want them to feel limited in what they can accomplish in the world.
"My purpose on The Titan Games was to prove to the world that you can be a doctor and you can be a mom and you can still be an amazing athlete. You can really do anything you want to do if you're willing to work for it."
Her journey through The Titan Games also produced a couple of surprises, beginning with the combine.
"I looked at this girl and went, 'You look really familiar,' " Seeman said. "And she's like, 'Well, I ran track at Nebraska,' and I went, 'No way!' "
Not only was Chantae McMillan, a multi-event athlete from 2007-11, also in the combine, she, too, made the final cut and is among the 18 women featured in season two..
"Chantae was in my group, so it was great just to connect with her because she's a fellow mom as well, has a little son," Seeman said.
"It was cool to see another Husker there, because as you know, the Husker network across the country is not small. I'm always so proud to say that not only am I from Nebraska, but that I'm a Cornhusker. I do feel like I'm representing the university when you're competing on such a big stage."
Seeman realized once again how far and wide the Husker network stretches when she discovered yet a third former Nebraska student-athlete, Jessie Graff, would also be participating in The Titan Games as a celebrity titan, a new feature for the show's second season.
Graff was a pole vaulter at Nebraska in 2004 and 2005 and is a professional stuntwoman in Hollywood and star America Ninja Warrior. She's among six celebrity titans – three women, three men – to lead each of three regions, another new concept to the second series.
"You're talking about the top 18 men and top 18 women selected, and then to throw Jessie in there and have three Cornhuskers competing, I thought it was a great representation of our university," Seeman said. "And I love that they're all women."
Seeman contractually can't discuss many details from the series, especially not the outcome, or how far she or anyone advances. But she did describe her experience in general.
"These are not every day things," she said of the obstacles. "I think even people who train at the highest level, these are not obstacles you necessarily train for, and it's not the strongest person and it's not the fastest person. It's really the most well-rounded athlete.
"It was physically difficult. I think I was one of the older female competitors there. It's been a few years since I've been tested like this."
Competition, Seeman said, was stiff, and featured athletes with careers ranging from dancers and linemen to opera singers and skydivers.
"I had a blast," she said. "It re-ignited this fire back in me in competing. It felt so good to go out there and compete. It was super fun to put on the Titan uniform and get out there and do that kind of crazy stuff."
That her husband, Ben, and daughters, Breklyn, 8; Sienna, 6; and Kimber, 4, were able to attend filming and sit in the front row made the experience extra special, Seeman said. Her mother and father also attended.
Randy Borg, her father, played on Nebraska's 1970 and 1971 national championship football teams under Bob Devaney and concluded his career playing for Tom Osborne. So when Seeman credits Boyd Epley for pioneering Nebraska's famed strength and conditioning program, you know why.
"Nebraska does an amazing job of training their athletes physically. I think our strength and conditioning program, we were the forefront among colleges back when Boyd Epley came to Nebraska.
"The strength and conditioning is great, but what Nebraska does is they train people to be good humans and to be hard workers. I feel athletics are kind of like a microcosm of life. And Nebraska does an amazing job at putting good people out into the world and into the work force."
Seeman credited her family for supporting her throughout the experience, which, logistically, presented challenges. Filming in California occurred in February, meaning Seeman and her husband, a police sergeant in Lincoln, had to put their careers on hold, while their girls had school work to make up.
"There were so many things that had to fall into place for this to happen. They said, 'We'll support you, we'll figure this out, you've got to do this,' " Seeman said of her family.
"To have them in the front row and be able to go over there and hug them, see my little girls' faces to meet The Rock was an incredible experience they'll never forget."
Reach Brian at brosenthal@huskers.com or follow him on Twitter @GBRosenthal.
