University of North Dakota Athletics

Tom Scott is in his fourth season as the head cross country coach and his fifth year as the distance coach for the UND track & field team in 2025-26.

In his five seasons as the distance coach for the track & field program at North Dakota, Scott’s athletes have rewritten every major distance record on the men’s side in both the indoor and outdoor seasons.

During the 2024-25 track & field seasons, his distance runners posted a total of 19 All-Summit League performances (11 indoor, eight outdoor). His distance teams were also helped the Hawks be in the hunt for the Summit League title on the women's team, finishing as the runners up at the Summit League Indoor Championships and third at the Summit League Outdoor Championships.

Jadyn Keeler’s accomplishments during the 2024-25 track & field seasons highlighted the rise of the UND distance program under Coach Scott. In July 2025, she ran for her home nation of Canada at the Jr. Pan American Games in Asunción, Paraguay, and was the gold medalist in the 10,000 meters (34:16.61) and the silver medalist in the 5,000 meters (15:56.77). Her time in the 10,000 meters broke the games record of 34:43.80. She was also the Summit League Women’s Track Athlete of the Year during both the indoor and outdoor seasons.

During the 2025 outdoor season, Keeler took 16th in the 10,000 meters (32:59.12) at the NCAA Championships and earned Second Team All-America accolades, making her one of only two UND athletes in the Division I era to compete in a track event at the national meet. Her qualification for outdoor nationals came by running one of the top times (34:07.67) in the 10,000 meters at the NCAA West Preliminary Round. Along with Keeler, both Frida Giersdorff (3,000-meter steeplechase) and Jiri Ceska (800 meters) competed at the NCAA West Preliminary Round. Keeler was a two-time gold medalist at the Summit League Outdoor Championships and won the titles in the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters, while finishing as the runner-up in the 1,500 meters. Keeler was named the Outdoor Track Championship M.V.P. at the conclusion of the meet.

At the 2024-25 NCAA Indoor Championships, Keeler earned Second Team All-America honors by finishing 10th in the 5,000 meters (15:31.63) and was the first Fighting Hawk to compete at the meet in a track event in Division I history. At the league level, Keeler was a triple crown winner at the Summit League Indoor Championships and captured the titles in the mile, 3,000 meters and 5,000 meters. At the end of the season, Keeler was named the Summit League Indoor Track Championship M.V.P.

In the 2024 cross country season, Scott’s team was victorious on both sides at the Ron Pynn Classic and Dragon Twilight meet. At the Summit League Cross Country Championships, three Hawks shined and recorded All-Summit League performances. Eliana Malnourie was the runner-up in the 6K for First Team All-Summit League accolades, while Naja Weiler placed fourth in the 6K for first team honors to earn the best placement by a UND women’s freshman at the league meet. Matej Hrebacka earned Second Team All-Summit League status with an eighth-place finish at the league meet.

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, Keeler (3,000-meter steeplechase) and Justice Dick (800 meters) also won league titles at the outdoor meet. Labatte, Keeler, Giersdorff and Yonca Kutluk also made appearances at the NCAA West Preliminary Round. At the Summit League Outdoor Championships, Scott’s athletes posted eight All-Summit League performances.

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. Individual Hawks earned All-Summit League status nine times at the Summit League Indoor Championships.

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 Keeler (12th).
 
In the 2023 track & 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 Keeler and the Scholar of the Summit League Championships, McKenzie Burian, who took 12th.

In his first year with the track & 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. 

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 & 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. 

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 & field coach of the year. 

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.