Luke Watson

Luke Watson (born August 20, 1980) is a retired long-distance runner who specialized in various track and road running disciplines. He represented the United States at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in 2004 and 2006. He was a member of one of the greatest generations of high school long distance runners in the US, many of whom happened to be from Stillwater High in the late 1990s. At Notre Dame he studied and also became a very competitive middle and long distance runner, before which he ran at three US Olympic Trials in 2004, 2008, and 2012. Watson retired from competitive running in 2012. He is the older brother of Jake Watson. Following his running career, Watson earned a PhD in accounting from Pennsylvania State University, and is an assistant accounting professor at the University of Florida. Watson specializes in corporate tax accounting research.

Watson ran the men's short race at the 2004 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, placing 36th out of 139 finishers. Just months later, he ran the 5000 meters at the 2004 US Olympic Trials, running a time of 13:45.53 (min:sec) in the preliminary round, and then running a time of 13:53.49 in the final round, placing 14th out of 16 competitors, a few seconds behind high school teammate Sean Graham who also did not qualify for the Olympics. He then ran the men's short race at the 2006 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, this time placing 57th of 126 finishers. At the 2008 Olympic Trials, he ran the 3000-m steeplechase, but did not make it past the preliminary round. Finally, Watson ran the marathon at the 2012 Olympic Trials, running a time of 2:15:29.