Former Nebraska distance runner and four-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree
Cami Merickel is a former NCAA distance runner, NIL content creator, and athlete-branding professional. She currently serves as Social Media Marketing Manager and Intern Program Manager at Influxer, where she leads content strategy focused on athlete branding, NIL education, and digital storytelling. Merickel also manages the company's collegiate internship program and mentors student-athletes in content creation, marketing, and personal-brand development.
Merickel began creating NIL content in December 2023. Her content covers health, wellness, fitness, nutrition, student-athlete life, and the college recruiting experience across platforms including Instagram and TikTok. She was selected for the NCAA x Meta NIL Empower Program, which provides female student-athletes with education and resources for developing their personal brands and creator businesses. Merickel now uses her content to help younger athletes understand recruiting, athlete identity, and the opportunities available through NIL.
As a runner, Merickel competed in cross country and track and field for the University of Nebraska. In 2026, she ran a personal-best 10:26.39 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, placing fourth at the Stanford Invitational and recording the seventh-fastest performance in Nebraska history. Her indoor 5,000-meter time of 16:38.46 ranks sixth on Nebraska's all-time performance list.
Merickel earned Academic All-Big Ten recognition four times, was named a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar, and received Nebraska's Sam Foltz 27 Hero Leadership Award. She studied nutrition, exercise and health science with a minor in psychology at Nebraska.
Beginners usually want the vault to look more advanced before they can control it. The run, grip, and plant fundamentals, the four-stage straight-pole progression, when the pole should actually start bending, and the safety checks that come before every vault.
Aug 24, 2026
You don't need to show up to freshman track already knowing your event or your best time. What the first two weeks of practice actually look like, how JV and varsity placement works, what the first meet feels like, and how to balance track with schoolwork.
Aug 24, 2026
A distance runner fuels differently from a sprinter or a thrower, and a growing body has demands training doesn't pause for. How high school track and field athletes should eat each day, fuel around school and practice, plan meet-day nutrition, and recognize the warning signs of underfueling.
Aug 24, 2026
Hurdling is a rhythm event, not sprinting with obstacles in the way. Official high school hurdle heights and spacing, how the 3-step rhythm works, what the lead leg and trail leg each do, and the drills that build real technique in a first season.
Aug 24, 2026
The triple jump is one continuous movement divided into three deliberate phases: the hop, the step, and the jump. What each phase does, how the event differs from the long jump, what phase ratios reveal, and the staged progression beginners should follow.
Aug 24, 2026
Relay races are often decided inside the exchange zone. The rules that make a handoff legal, how the blind 4x100 exchange and the visual 4x400 exchange actually work, and how to fix the timing and target-hand problems that cost teams races.
Aug 24, 2026
The 400m is one lap divided into four deliberate segments, and the race goes to whoever slows down the least. What each segment demands, why the 200m split is the most honest number in the race, and how to build a race plan before stepping on the track.
Aug 24, 2026
Overuse injuries are a persistent problem in high school track and field. How to recognize shin splints, jumper's knee, hamstring strains, and heat illness early — and what to do when the signs appear.
Aug 13, 2026
An 11.1 in the boys' 100m may make one Division I recruiting board and miss another. How to read published track and field recruiting standards against real rosters, and what coaches check before an offer.
Aug 13, 2026
Most new athletes call themselves sprinters. A veteran coach explains how warm-ups, time trials, and the first meets reveal each athlete's real event profile across sprints, hurdles, jumps, throws, and distance.
Aug 13, 2026