Student Spotlight: Mario Merenda

Mario Merenda was a senior in high school when he first played with an iRacing collegiate team through a loophole. The college series only needed 12 hours of classes, and he signed up with his recently bestowed OU email to qualify. It didn’t take long for people to find out when he registered with the series using his high school email. However, it marked him as someone who hit the ground running when given the chance. Merenda has been with OU ECCI as a player and Dev Lead throughout his four years at OU and has shown unceasing dedication.

Merenda is from Tulsa, OK and started as a Meteorology major at OU. A gamer like the rest of us, he plays sports games and Sim Racing, though he began to feel burnt out with those games. When he needs a break, he’ll play some “Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege”, and he is a Maverick and Warden fan. Sometimes, he’ll even touch grass and go play soccer.

Merenda still loves racing, specifically NASCAR or ISMA. He wants to be in the driver’s seat, but figured if he couldn’t, then he’d at least be as close to the action as possible. He decided to switch to a Sports Business major, opting to earn the recently launched Esports business certificate as well. “Do esports certificate if your sports business major, Esports is blowing up, seek Esports opportunities,” Merenda said.

He started out by becoming the Manager Development Lead and player to start an iRacing team in his freshman year. At first he was the only player, whereas now, he’s one of three. It wasn’t long before he was tasked with leading other sports games as well due to a lack of qualified people, eventually acting as Development Lead for Madden, FIFA, NBA2K, and College Football (CFB), all while still competing in Sim Racing himself.

Merenda wasn’t deterred.

He made sure to give credit to his teams, commending them for their attitude. He always shows up on time for practices and games while being proactive about scheduling matches.

“It’s been unreal the change we’ve seen in the last four years. I’m honestly the proudest that OU Esports iRacing has become a respected name in the Sim Racing community to where ENASCAR reaches out to us,” Merenda said.

There are a lot of things Merenda is proud of—managing multiple teams while competing and going to class is impressive—but he said he was most proud of the representation he and his two other racers gave to OU, especially when he and one other from his team made it to the top five of the ENASCAR College iRacing Series (ECIS).

“It’s kind of based off of your team’s credibility, drivers, finishes, and overall organization,” he explained. Merenda ended up in third place, keeping  OU near the top.

When asked about what plans he had after graduation, he made it clear he wasn’t planning on slowing down. This May, he is going to the Sim Racing draft for the pro series, his collegiate results already qualifying him.

For Merenda’s parting messages, he had to say, “Don’t be afraid to reach out. So much information and opportunities about the OU ECCI program are accessible with just a simple Google search.”