Tom Scott is entering his third season as the head cross country coach and his fourth year as the distance coach for the UND track & field team in 2024-25.
In his three seasons as the distance coach for the track and field team at North Dakota, Scott’s athletes have rewritten every major distance record on the men’s side in both the indoor and outdoor seasons. In the 2023-24 track and field season, his distance runners recorded a total of 17 All-Summit League performances (eight indoor, nine outdoor).
During the 2024 outdoor season, Luke Labatte earned Second Team All-American honors and finished 16th in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, becoming the first student-athlete in UND’s Division I history on the men’s side to compete at the national championship meet. He was also the first member of North Dakota’s steeple crew to advance to the national championship in UND’s Division I history. Labatte earned the title of Summit League Men’s Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year after his performances and won the Summit League title in the 3,000-meter steeplechase for the third year in a row. In addition to Labatte, Jadyn Keeler (3,000-meter steeplechase) and Justice Dick (800 meters) also won league titles at the outdoor meet. Labatte, Keeler, Frida Giersdorff and Yonca Kutluk also made appearances at the NCAA West Preliminary Round.
In the 2023-24 indoor season, Kutluk was a triple-crown winner at the Summit League Indoor Championships and won the conference titles in the mile, 5000 meters and 3,000 meters. At the conclusion of the season, Kultuk was named the Summit League Women’s Indoor Track Athlete of the Year.
Kutluk also made headlines during the 2023 cross country season and was named the Summit League Women’s Cross Country Athlete of the Year. She was 88th at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, which gave her the sixth-best finish at the meet by a UND runner in Summit League history. Kutluk punched her ticket to the national meet with a sixth-place finish at the NCAA Midwest Regional. Turkish native was the first Summit League champion on the women’s side in school history, winning the individual title with a 6K time of 20:56.01, beating the rest of the field by over 10 seconds. Coach Scott also helped five Fighting Hawks reach All-Summit League status at the conference championships, led by Kutluk (champion), Labatte (runner-up), Justin Jelaca (ninth), Jamie Burns (11th) and Jadyn Keeler (12th).
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In the 2023 track and field season, Scott’s distance runners recorded a total of seven All-Summit League performances (four indoor, three outdoor). Labatte also repeated as a conference champion in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, breaking the Summit League Outdoor Championships record with a time of 8:49.89.
During the 2022 cross country season, Scott coached three Fighting Hawks to All-Summit League status. The group of all-conference athletes included third-place Summit League finisher Labatte, seventh-place finisher Jadyn Keeler and the Scholar of the Summit League Championships, McKenzie Burian, who took 12th.
In his first year with the track and field program, Scott’s athletes rewrote the steeplechase record book at UND, with Labatte setting a new steeplechase program record at the 2022 NCAA West Preliminary Round and Keeler making program history in the women’s steeplechase at the Summit League Championships. In total, Scott helped three Fighting Hawks reach All-Summit League status during the 2021-22 track & field seasons.
Scott arrived at North Dakota after coaching the distance team at Queen’s University in North Carolina. While at Queen’s, Scott coached 29 All-Americans and mentored 40 All-America performances.
He led the Royal women to a sixth-place finish and the men to a 20th-place finish at the 2021 NCAA Division II Cross Country National Championships. Individually Scott had an individual in the top 10 in each race with freshman Fatima Alanis taking third in the women’s race and sophomore Jan Lukas finishing 10th in the men’s race. It marked the fourth time under his leadership that a cross country team at Queen’s had finished in the top-10 at the national meet.
Scott's men's and women's teams have won a combined five NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Championships including sweeping the event in 2018 and 2019. The Royal women won the 2021 Southeast Regional while the men finished second. For his women's team's effort, Scott was named Southwest Region coach of the year. On the men's side, Scott coached Becker, he first male to win a regional individual championship since 2009.
On the track at Queens, Scott mentored the 2019 NCAA Division II mile national champion and runner up as Felix Wammetsberger and Daniel Wallis went 1-2 in the final. Scott also trained the national 800m runner up Seb Anthony at the 2021 national indoor championships.Â
Scott transitioned to Queens after one year at fellow South Atlantic Conference foe Coker College where he served as Head Men's and Women's Track & Field and Cross Country Coach and coached the school's first ever cross country All-American. Perhaps most notable from his time at Coker was coaching Darroneshia Lott who ran an all-time NCAA Division II record 2:01.26 in the 800m to win the individual national championship. Shortly after the race she was disqualified for stepping on the line just after the start. There were more than 50 school records set during Scott's one season in charge.
Prior to taking the reins at Coker, Scott was the Head Men's and Women's Cross Country Coach and Assistant Men's and Women's Track and Field Coach for two years at Ashland University, his alma mater. At Ashland he coached All-American performances in cross country and the indoor mile while also coaching the Eagle Distance Medley Relay team to All-American accolades.Â
Scott earned his master's degree from Michigan Tech where he was a graduate assistant that directly coached the Huskies distance runners from 2013-2015. Scott spent two seasons in Houghton, Mich. and led Sean Pengelly to the NCAA Division II national championships as an individual qualifier, the school's first in over 15 years.
Scott has collected individual recognition at the regional level. He was named the 2019 Southeast Regional women's cross country coach of the year and has three times been named Southeast Region men's assistant track and field coach of the year.Â
Collegiately Scott ran at Ashland where he was a three time All-American, twice in the 800-meters and once in the 4 x 400m relay.
