Head coach Dustin Dimit enters year 10 in 2024-25, leading the Rowan men’s cross country and track & field programs to great success, winning a total of 21 conference championships and seeing his student-athletes earn over 70 All-America honors individually and as part of relays.
Under Dimit’s guidance, the Profs have won nine consecutive New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) indoor championships and nine-straight outdoor titles. He has also helped propel the cross country team to the three NJAC crowns, including back-to-back championships in 2022 and 2023. The first came in 2017, marking the school’s first since 1993
Dimit swept all three NJAC Coach of the Year honors during the 2023-24 and 2022-23 academic seasons, as he led the Profs to team titles in cross county, indoor track & field, and outdoor track & field. He also earned coach of the year honors from the USTFCCA for the indoor and outdoor seasons, helping leda the Profs to back-to-back third-place finishes at the Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
During the 2023-24 indoor season, the Profs produced three All-Americans in Kwaku Nkrumah and Jason Agyemang (60 meter hurdles) and Amara Conte (400 meters). Nkrumah highlighted the 2024 outdoor season by winning the 110 meter hurdles to become the first national champion since the 2021 season as the Profs brought home six All-Americans in six events en route to a third-place team finish.
The 2021-22 year saw Dimit win both the indoor and outdoor NJAC Coach of the Year honors in leading the Profs to team championships in each season. At the NCAA Indoor Championship, Rowan produced a national champion in the 4x400 relay and finished in a tie for fifth at the Outdoor Championship.
In the 2020-21 outdoor season, Dimit oversaw two NCAA champions, Ahmir Johnson (long jump) and the 4x400 relay as well as six others earning All-America as the Profs finished fourth at nationals. He was named the NJAC and USTFCCCA Region Coach of the Year.
In 2019-20, the Profs captured the NJAC indoor title, with 13 individuals and four relays earning all-conference honors and Dimit being named the Coach of the Year. Rowan, which also won its third straight indoor All-Atlantic Region title, had Ahmir Johnson, Rakim Coyle, Frankie Richard and the 4x400 and distance medley relay teams earn All-America status as they had qualified for the NCAA Championships before it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Profs’ chance for their sixth consecutive outdoor crown was also thwarted by the pandemic as the entire season was canceled.
Dimit’s 2018-19 teams took home the NJAC indoor and outdoor titles for the fifth consecutive year, while the Profs won the All-Atlantic Region Outdoor Championship. He was honored by the conference with its Coach of the Year awards for both seasons and also earned his third straight outdoor Atlantic Region Coach of the Year award from the U.S. Track Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). A total of 34 Profs were named to the All-Conference track & field teams, with four receiving the honor in cross country. Tyler Garland (110m hurdles) and Dan McAleavey (javelin) received All-America status from the NCAA outdoor meet and in cross country, Daniel Henry was the NJAC Runner of the Year and Cyril Harvey was the Rookie of the Year.
The Profs finished in third place at the 2018 NCAA Division III Championship and repeated that finish at the outdoor championship, crowning a total of 11 All-Americans, while Dimit was the Atlantic Region Coach of the Year. Rowan also claimed the team titles at the inaugural All-Atlantic Region Conference Indoor and Outdoor Championships. In cross country, the Profs won the 2017 NJAC Championship for the first time since 1993, snapping a 23-year reign by The College of New Jersey and Kevin Veltre was the individual champion and the conference’s Runner of the Year, and earned All-America status with his 13th-place finish as the Profs were 23rd in the team standings at the NCAA Cross Country Championships.
The 2016-17 season was a banner year highlighted by a pair of Profs winning individual NCAA championships, hurdlers Dave Benjamin (indoor 60 meters) and Anthony Salemo (outdoor 400 meters). The team again swept both NJAC titles, including setting an outdoor meet record of 323 points, while the Profs placed seventh in the team standings at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Jeffrey Tucker was an All-American in two indoor events (high jump, long jump) as was Benjamin (110m hurdles) at the outdoor championship, along with the 4x100 relay. Benjamin was also the Outstanding Track Athlete at both NJAC meets, Tucker was the Outstanding Field Athlete (outdoors) and Matt Grill was the NJAC Outdoor Rookie of the Year.
The year started with Rowan hosting the NCAA Cross Country Atlantic Region Championships in which it placed eighth. Dimit was named the NJAC Coach of the Year for both indoor and outdoor and was also the Atlantic Region Coach of the Year for outdoor track.
Dimit again swept the NJAC Coach of the Year awards in 2015-16 as the Profs took home both titles for the second year in a row. Benjamin (indoor 60m hurdles), Salemo (outdoor 400m hurdles), Tucker (outdoor long jump, high jump) and the 4x100 relay (outdoors) each earned All-America status while Tucker was the NJAC’s Outstanding Athlete indoors. The Profs also had a pair of freshmen earn the conference’s Rookie of the Year honors in Jake Liebling (indoors) and Shai Mumford (outdoors).
In his debut season with the Profs in 2014-15, Dimit guided Rowan to the school’s first NJAC indoor championship, snapping a 17-year run by TCNJ, while the outdoor title was the first for the Profs since 1997. He took home both conference coaching honors for the first time in his career while seeing 29 individuals and three relays earn All-NJAC recognition. In the team’s second-place finish at the NJAC cross country championship, Jon Sewnig won the individual title and Runner of the Year and All-Region honors. Sewnig was also the Outstanding Track Athlete at the conference’s indoor meet while Rowan had both Rookie of the Year honorees in Tucker (indoor) and Benjamin (outdoor). The duo also received All-America distinction as did Justyce Pollitt.
Prior to his arrival at Rowan, Dimit was the head coach for men’s and women’s cross country and an assistant with the men’s and women’s track & field programs at Buffalo State College for five years. The Bengals’ cross country team posted its best conference finish in 31 years and had a competitor at the NCAA Championships for the first time in 28 years. While working with the track team, Buffalo State garnered four NCAA top 10 finishes, four SUNYAC titles and one ECAC championship, and had six individuals win national titles and 34 receive All-America status. All told, his student-athletes set 43 school records and won 23 individual conference championships.
Before Buffalo State he served as an assistant coach for both cross country and track programs at Allegheny College, where the teams won a combined six conference cross country championships and 11 NCAC track titles. He started his college coaching career in 2003 at his alma mater, Grove City College, as an assistant men’s and women’s cross country coach, and previously had coaching stints at Pennsylvania high schools Maplewood, Redbank Valley and Shenango.
Dimit is a member of the USTFCCCA Division III cross country executive committee and served as President in 2019-20, while holding other leadership positions since 2010. A USA Track certified Level II jumps coach, Dimit was the lead author of the NCAA’s realignment plan for regions in cross country and track and field, and also coordinated the organization’s national poll for women’s cross country.
A 2003 graduate of Grove City College, Dimit was a decorated runner in his own right, helping lead the men’s cross country and track & field teams to a combined eight Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) championships, and earning All-PAC and PAC All-Academic honors. A native of Alliance, OH, Dimit received his bachelor’s degree in history with a secondary education certification in social studies and mathematics, and in 2007, earned a master’s in sports administration and sports coaching from the United States Sports Academy.
Dimit and his wife, Megan, reside in Collingswood, NJ.
