Matthew Fayers - Assistant Coach/Recruiting Coordinator - Men's Cross Country / Track Coaches

Matthew Fayers

Title:
Assistant Coach/Recruiting Coordinator
Email:
MatthewFayers@creighton.edu

Former Oklahoma State All-American Matthew Fayers enters his eighth year at Creighton in 2025-26, and fifth as an assistant coach. Originally hired in July of 2018 as a graduate assistant, he was elevated to his current role as full-time assistant coach in December of 2021.

Fayers has played an integral part in the success of the CU Cross Country and Track teams since his arrival, during which time the Bluejays have set 48 school-records and had 400+ performances to land on an all-time best list.

In 2022-23 Creighton co-hosted its first big home meet in nearly a decade when it hosted the Platte River Rumble. The team also owned the second-best men's cross country GPA (3.77) in the country and 11th-best women's GPA (3.81). That made CU the only school in the country with both teams in the top-11, as well as the only school with both teams at 3.75 or better.

In the classroom, the Bluejays has five men and five women named Academic All-District by the College Sports Communicators, both of which were program-bests. Boston Small earned the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship and was one of three male finalists for the prestigious Walter Byers Scholarship.

CU also made large gains on the course. Marcos Gonazlez set program records in both the 8K and 10K, with his 8K mark later broken by teammate Tommy Ward. Ward made history himself in the spring of 2023 when he qualified for the NCAA Regionals in the 800 meters, the program's first postseason qualifier in track. The CU men placed sixth at the BIG EAST Cross Country Championships, its best finish since 2015.

Creighton's 4x800 relay finished as runner-up at the BIG EAST Outdoor Championships in 2025, as Brian Hiltebrand, Evan Kraus, Ryan Hendrickson and Jake Ziebarth each earned All-BIG EAST accolades.

Fayers also works closely with head coach Chris Gannon to create content for and maintain much of what is seen on program's social media outlets.

"I am extremely excited for Matthew Fayers to be joining the Bluejay Cross Country program," said Gannon following his hiring in 2018. "Matthew stood out through our search as someone who is extremely knowledgeable and passionate. He success as an athlete will also be a great asset to our program as he can draw on these experiences to help our athletes."

Fayers comes to Omaha after having completed a successful and decorated tenure on the track at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Okla. A middle-distance specialist with plenty of range, Fayers clocked four sub-four-minute miles and advanced to the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds four times in the 1,500-meter run. His abilities were put to use on the course as well as he ran for OSU in back-to-back NCAA Cross Country Championship races.

As a cornerstone of the OSU program, he earned two academic all-Big 12 honors, tallied 68 points at conference championships and won two Big 12 titles as a member of the Cowboy DMR quartet. To go along with his 11 all-Big 12 medals, Fayers nabbed two All-America honors with appearances in the DMR and open mile. It won't take long to find his name is the OSU record books as Fayers owns five places in three of the school's top-10 lists. He sits in seventh in the 1,000 and mile and ran a leg on the fifth, sixth and eighth-fastest DMR squads in Cowboy history.

Originally from Ickenham, England, in the greater London area, Fayers started his career as a Cowboy in the fall of 2013 and graduated from OSU this spring. Fayers was one of the most consistent pieces in Stillwater during a golden age for the men's team that produced the program's only two Big 12 indoor titles and four Big 12 cross country crowns.

Fayers graduated with his bachelor's in Health and Physical Education Fitness in 2018 and earned his master's degree in Education while at Creighton in 2021.