Athletics

Becoming Moore

N Our Voice by Micaylon Moore

Becoming Moore

I can still see the stage lights at Night at the Lied. 

The emcee said “Heart and Soul Award,” and suddenly my legs felt heavy. The applause and cheers roared across the theater as I joined my two fellow recipients on stage.

I sat back down, my heart still pounding from the moment. Just minutes later, I heard my name again—first Nebraska’s Most Outstanding Student-Athlete, followed shortly by the announcement of being a Big Ten Medal of Honor recipient. 

A few applause cycles later, the microphone was in my hand, and every service event, study session and sprint repeat I’d done at Nebraska came rushing back to me. 

One thought booming in my head:

Dream more, do more, become more.

The motto I've strived to live by in my time at Nebraska.

I walked off that stage thinking about every coach, family member, professor, trainer, doctor and teammate who poured into me. 

Those awards belong to all of us.

The Call I Never Saw Coming

Football was my first love, so track and field started as a fill-in: a fifth-grade summer league where my friends and I gathered looking for something to do while the pads were in storage. 

I kept jumping for fun, never thinking about what it could mean for my future. I was always told that my jumping abilities would lead to amazing opportunities, but I never truly grasped what that meant in full. 

In my senior year, I was torn: keep chasing the bright lights on the field or dive fully into the long and triple jump. 

The track felt right. I could see myself going farther than any touchdown I ever scored, yet Nebraska wasn’t on my list.

That changed after one practice when my coach said, “Nebraska called me on the phone today—do you want me to pass them your number?” I said yes, figuring nothing would come of it. 

One phone call turned into a campus visit, and the visit gave me a new vision. 

The facilities were world-class, the academic support was real and Coach Gary Pepin, who had trained Olympians, pitched me a dream. I knew national titles, Big Ten championships and even community impact would all be within reach if I trusted his process. 

I was confident in my decision.

Lincoln was the place where I could thrive.

A Detour in a Walking Boot

I came back for the 2025 indoor season with one goal: win the national title. 

Two meets in, I landed incorrectly in the first phase of a triple jump attempt and felt an immediate pain shoot through my foot. 

Diagnosis: bone bruise. 

Prescription: As much time in a boot as possible, leading to weeks without a single jump.

Rehab was lonely at first—bike and pool workouts while teammates practiced approaches and jumps—but every day I reminded myself that my work from fall training hadn’t vanished. 

I ditched the boot the day before our trip to Arkansas, three weeks post-injury in hopes of qualifying for nationals. I fell 2 cm short. I managed a few shaky jumps at Big Tens and a silver medal, yet I fell 3 cm short of being the last national qualifier. I thought my career was over. 

Days before nationals, I received the call that someone had dropped out, and I moved into the final qualifying spot.

By nationals, my foot still ached, but I was willing to put everything on the line. 

With one final attempt in my career, I moved from 7th place to an NCAA silver medalist. 

Finishing runner-up hurt the competitor in me, yet it proved the grind had been worth every minute.

What Drives Me

People sometimes ask why I go the extra mile outside of my sport. 

The answer is simple: “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives” - Jackie Robinson. This is a quote that I stand by. 

Whether it’s speaking to local schools, volunteering at the hospital or helping young athletes with technique, the impact I make is matched by the lessons I learn. 

Serving takes energy, but it also fuels me.

A service trip to Ecuador reinforced the power of service.

We painted schools, taught English to young children, assisted at a local health care clinic and served in other amazing ways.   

I left realizing true happiness isn’t found in possessions or abundance, but in the ability to enjoy less. 

That perspective shapes the way I live my life now.

The Circle That Lifts Me

My journey is lined with mentors who never let me walk alone. 

Nebraska’s N-vest program paired me with Dr. Mariana Burks, a biology professor who placed me in a research lab and allowed me to be a teaching assistant for her biology courses.

Explaining science to a roomful of undergrads, handling their rapid-fire questions became one rehearsal space that now steadies my voice whenever I’m helping others.

Dr. Burks made Lincoln feel like home, connected me with alumni already in medicine and guided me along the way.

Keith Zimmer in Life Skills has supported my ideas and helped me bring them to life. He has been there to review my speeches, applications and plans. Additionally, he has backed my work in the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, N-volved, Inner Circle and helped me run Husker Healers, a pre-health group for athletes. 

On the runway, Coach Pepin and Coach Johnson set the championship standard and mindset.

Their belief never wavered. 

Mentors like these made the demands of being a student-athlete more achievable.

The Message That I Hope Sticks

Many student-athletes think their schedules are too packed to branch out. 

I hope my journey shows otherwise. 

You can chase titles, ace exams, serve abroad and still sleep—occasionally. 

The window is short, and no one gets the minutes back. 

It is never too late to be what could have been. At the same time, life comes with limited opportunities, and we must take chances when opportunity arises because you never know if that time will come again.

What Comes Next

Medical school starts this fall. 

I’m still exploring which medical specialty feels like the right fit for me, possibly something in sports medicine, pediatrics or family medicine. While I haven’t made a final decision, I’m drawn to paths that allow me to make a meaningful, hands-on impact in people’s lives. No matter what kind of doctor I become, I’ll bring Nebraska’s heartbeat with me into every exam room: dreaming to provide better health outcomes, going the extra mile for those I serve and becoming the version of myself that I have always envisioned. 

There’s a saying here that goes, “There is no place like Nebraska,” and I believe it. 

This community took a kid who once just wanted to run summer track for fun and showed him how to dream more, do more and become more. 

Now it’s my turn to pass that lesson on.