OSU-COM student receives NCAA Impact Award for leadership and athletic achievement

Friday, February 20, 2026

Media Contact: Kayley Spielbusch | Digital Communications Specialist | 918-561-5759 | kspielb@okstate.edu

Track and field opened many doors for Micaylon Moore, including recognition by the NCAA. 

Moore is a first-year medical student at Oklahoma State University College of Osteopathic Medicine. He grew up in Fort Collins, Colorado, and joined track and field in fifth grade. 

What started as a sport he did just for fun outside the football season ended up shaping his athletic career. 

“Over time, coaches and people had these high expectations, and as a 13-year-old kid, I didn’t realize what level I was at. In high school, I quickly realized what kind of doors track and field opened for me,” Moore said. 

His high school track and field career led him to the University of Nebraska, where he won multiple U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-American honors, the Big Ten Medal of Honor and was named Nebraska’s Most Outstanding Male Student-Athlete in 2025. 

Additionally, he co-founded the Husker Healers, a pre-health organization for student-athletes at NU. Moore helped build a curriculum for the organization, which would bring in speakers from across different health professions and connect members with resources for medical school applications, such as how to write a personal statement or get letters of recommendation.  

Moore said most student-athletes don’t have the chance to learn these skills outside of athletic facilities. 

“A lot of opportunities that are open to regular students aren’t things that athletes can participate in because of their busy schedules. We wanted to help student-athletes get into health care, no matter what field of medicine it might be,” he said. 

These achievements are just a couple of reasons why Moore received the NCAA Impact Award in 2026, which celebrates the best of college athletics. Honorees exemplify the highest standards of athletic excellence, academic achievement and service to their campuses and communities. 

Moore found out he received the award on his birthday, Sept. 25 — just a couple of months into his first year at OSU-COM. 

“I hopped onto a Zoom call on my birthday, and there was the head athletic director, the associate for life skills, the associate for academics, my head coach and one other person. They told me happy birthday, and I was like, ‘Oh, all these people got together to tell me happy birthday.’ That’s when they told me about the award and congratulated me, which was pretty cool,” he said. 

The NCAA flew Moore out to Washington, D.C., for the awards ceremony during the 2026 NCAA Convention on Jan. 14, where he was recognized alongside the other honorees.

He said the Impact Award is a huge honor and that he doesn’t know if he will ever receive anything as big as it again. 

“There are a lot of people who have instigated change and inspired others around them in a way that is unfathomable. Putting it into perspective, I was one of six people chosen out of over 500,000. I hope I left a legacy that people in the future can follow and that I can inspire other people to do good in their community,” Moore said. 

In fact, his passion for serving the community is what led him to pursue medicine in the first place. 

“Eight years ago, I realized I had never encountered a medical professional who mirrored my unique identity as an African American male. This realization shaped my vision for medicine. As a physician, I can ensure that the human aspect of humanity and the unity aspect of community are upheld in all facets of care,” Moore said. 

Although his busy schedule as a medical student leaves him with little time to participate in sports outside of intramural games, he hopes to inspire student-athletes to achieve their dreams. 

High school and college athletes began reaching out to Moore for advice while he was attending NU, and there are some students he has been mentoring for two years now. 

“I try to use the opportunity to inspire these kids and motivate them to do something that they never thought was possible for themselves,” he said. 

These experiences are something Moore will carry into his future career as a physician, where he aims to offer emotional support and empathy alongside medical care. 

“This has become my guiding light, inspired toward a future where every patient feels understood, valued and represented,” he said.