Fairmont State University Athletics

Kaylyn Christopher enters her fifth-consecutive season leading the men's and women's cross country teams and her seventh overall in charge. Christopher was named to lead the men’s and women’s cross country programs at Fairmont State University on April 28, 2021 and returns to lead the programs after previously serving as the head women’s cross country coach for the Falcons in 2014 and 2015.

In 2024, the women's team finished sixth as the men's team placed ninth at the MEC Championships. Carlina Jacquez finished fourth at the conference championship and was named All-MEC First Team. Megan Mitchell earned a top-20 finish at the MEC Championship and All-MEC Second Team accolades.

For the 2023 campaign, the women's team finished sixth while the men's team earned seventh at the MEC Championships. Carlina Jacquez finished second overall at the conference championship and was named All-MEC First Team. Joining her in the honors was Bailey DeMoss as he was named All-MEC Second Team. Jacquez went on to have a strong performance at the NCAA Division II Atlantic Region Championships with a 10th-place finish. 

In the 2022 season, the men's team placed sixth at the MEC Championships while the women's squad finished eighth. Bailey DeMoss was named the Freshman of the Year while Carlina Jacquez earned All-MEC First Team Honors. 

In her first year back at Fairmont State, Christopher coached Carlina Jacquez to 18th place individually at the NCAA Atlantic Regional as Jacquez was named to the USTFCCCA All-Region team. Jacquez was also recognized as a 2021-22 National Strength & Conditioning Association (NSCA) Collegiate All-American. 
 
Prior to returning to Fairmont, Christopher served as the head cross country and track and field coach at Alderson Broaddus University. In her first year with the program, she coached student-athletes to seven school records during the indoor track and field campaign in 2020.
 
Following her first stint at Fairmont State, she served as men’s and women’s cross country coach at Rollins College during the fall of 2019, and was also the head coach of the men’s and women’s cross country and track and field teams at Salem University from Feb. 2017 through May 2019.
 
While at Rollins, she helped multiple runners to personal records during the fall of 2019, before the programs were cut because of the impacts of COVID-19 later in the spring. When she took over at Salem, she was tasked with building both rosters from scratch and did so in just two years.
 
During her first stint as head women's cross country coach at Fairmont State, Christopher led the Falcons to a fourth-place finish at the Mountain East Conference Championships in 2015, where Logan Frame and Sara Younkers each garnered second team All-MEC accolades. In her first season leading the program in 2014, Christopher mentored Morganne Phillips to second-team all-league honors after finishing 11th at the MEC Championships.
 
Christopher is a 2011 graduate of West Virginia University and graduated Summa Cum Laude with a bachelor's degree in journalism and a minor in philosophy. She continued her education by graduating with a Master’s in higher education administration from Salem University in the spring of 2019.
 
As a student-athlete at WVU, she was a two-time NCAA indoor track and field All-American in the mile, and distance medley relay.
 
She also garnered CoSIDA Academic All-American honors two separate years, and holds the second-fastest time in the 1,000 meters in WVU history. She was also a member of two school-record holding relay teams in the distance medley and 4x800 meters (both indoor and outdoor).
 
Christopher was a four-time competitor at the NCAA cross country championships, helping WVU to top-10 finishes each year, including fourth place in 2008. She was also a member of West Virginia’s indoor track & field team that placed 10th at the NCAA National Championships in 2010.
 
She was named to the Mid-Atlantic All-Region Cross Country teams in 2008, 2009 and 2011, and also earned All-Big East and All-Big East Academic All-Star honors while with the Mountaineers.
 
As a prep star at Preston High School in West Virginia, Christopher was a nine-time West Virginia state champion as a member of the cross country and track and field teams. She also held multiple state records, including being the first high school female in the state’s history to break five minutes in the 1600 meters. She was a member of the first Athletics Hall of Fame class at Preston High.