Patrick Wales-Dinan is in his third year as Associate Head Cross Country Coach and Assistant Track & Field Coach at Harvard University.
In the fall of 2016 Wales-Dinan guided the women’s cross country team to their first Ivy League title in 31 years. The women dominated the Heps by scoring 33 points and placed five runners in the top 12. Wales-Dinan earned Ivy League Women’s Coach of the year. The team went on to earn its first ever automatic bid to the NCAA Championships by virtue of their runner-up finish at the NCAA Regional meet. The team ended the regular season with its highest rank in program history (17th) by the USTFCCCA. Junior Courtney Smith was Harvard’s first Ivy League champion since 1989 and went on to earn her second All-American award and her first in cross country finishing 35th at the NCAA Championships. In total the Crimson garnered three All-Ivy First Team selections; two All-Ivy Second Team selections; four All-Region First Team selections, and one First Team All-American. Additionally, Junior Courtney Smith was named Ivy-League Runner of the Year and first year Judy Pendergast was top freshman in the conference.
During the 2016 track & field season Wales-Dinan coached Courtney Smith and Paige Kouba to All-American honors in the indoor 5000m and steeplechase respectively.
At the Stanford Invitational Smith and Kouba etched their names into the Harvard record books in the 10,000m and steeplechase. Smith ran 32:08.32 in the 10,000m to hit the Olympic A standard. The time is the 9th fastest performance in NCAA history the fastest in Ivy League history and she was the top collegiate in the race. Kouba ran 9:50.21 which qualified her for the Olympic Trials and broke Harvard’s school record by of 25 seconds. In total Wales-Dinan’s athletes set 6 school records, 3 Ivy League Records and earned 7 All-Ivy first team performances.
In the fall of 2015 Wales-Dinan coached the women's cross country team to a 6th place finish at the NCAA Northeast Regional. Courtney Smith '18 had a breakout season finishing 16th at the Wisconsin Invite in a Harvard historical best of 20:04 for 6k. She finished 3rd at the Ivy League Championships, the highest finish for a Crimson woman since 1989. Smith then earned All-Region honors with her 5th place finish at the NCAA Northeast Regional, qualifying her individually for the NCAA Championships. The track campaign saw All-America performances from Smith in the indoor 10,000 meters and from Paige Kouba in the 3,000 steeplechase. Both women went on to compete at the USATF Olympic Trials, and helped Harvard climb to a program- and Ivy-best No. 10 national ranking during the season. Smith posted the ninth-fastest 10,000-meter run in NCAA history, while the men's middle distance team saw two school records broken by Myles Marshall '19 and a pair of Heps championships in the 4x800 relay, which is the first sweep in the event in program history.
During the 2014-15 campaign Wales-Dinan mentored six athletes who earned 7 USTFCCCA All-Academic honors and coached athletes to 5 school records. Molly Renfer set the school record at 1500m running 4:18.25 and also help the indoor distance medley relay set a school record of 11:18.73. Paige Kouba also had a breakout campaign capturing 3rd place at the Ivy League Championships in the steeplechase and setting a school record of 10:15.81 in the process. Freshman Coutrney Smith also set freshman records in the indoor 5k and outdoor 10k. The latter earning her a 3rd place finish at the Ivy League Championships. In total Harvard women had 7 middle and long distance entries at the NCAA Prelims, while the women’s team defended their indoor and outdoor Heps Championships.
Prior to Harvard Wales-Dinan was the men’s and women’s cross country coach at Long Beach State University. While at Long Beach State, Wales-Dinan’s athletes complied 32 top 10 performances and 7 school records. He coached 10 All-Conference Athletes and 6 NCAA Qualifiers and 2 All-Americans.
During the 2014 track and field season Chris Low earned 1st team All-American honors in the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Low finished 7th in the 800m finals and broke the school record in the 800m when he ran 1:47.52 at the NCAA Prelims in Arkansas. Wales-Dinan also guided Chris Enriquez to a birth in the NCAA Finals 10,000m. Both Low and Enriquez were the first middle or long distance men in Long Beach St. history to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Low also won a conference title in the 800m and garnered individual victories at the Stanford Invitational, Drake Relays and a runner-up finish at the Mt. Sac relays. Additionally Enriquez broke the 36 year old 5000m record when he ran 14:07.30 and ran 29:12.46.
Wales-Dinan also coached Rosa Del Toro and Gabe Hilbert during their professional careers.. Del Toro a 2013 Long Beach graduate and 9 time school record holder was a Brooks sponsored athlete. Hilbert ran 1:47.25 for 800m and made the semi-finals at the 2014 US Championships in the 800m.
At the 2014 USATF National Championships Enriquez was the highest placing collegiate in the 10,000m. He and Low earned spots on the NACAC U-23 National Team representing the United States. There Enriquez took home the silver medal and Low took a bronze becoming the first in 49er history to earn an international medal for the US.
In the fall of 2013 Wales-Dinan coached junior Chris Enriquez to an individual birth to the NCAA Cross Country Championships. Enriquez was the first 49er to qualify for the even in the modern era of NCAA Cross Country (since 1980). Enriquez qualified after finishing 10th at the NCAA West Regional meet in a time of 29:54.36. This was the highest finish by a 49er in school history.
During his first year at The Beach, Wales-Dinan saw his athletes set 3 school records and garner 3 NCAA Regional qualifying performances. Wales-Dinan mentored Gabe Hilbert to the conference title in the 800m and freshman Chris Enriquez to the fastest 5000m performance in the last 30 years when he ran 14:12.89 at the Mt. Sac Invitational. His distance squads earned 4 All-Conference nods and scored the most conference points for a 49es squad in the last 6 years. During the indoor season Wales-Dinan coached Rosa Del Toro to school records of 9:22 and 16:23 in the 3000m and 5000m respectively. Del Toro qualified to compete in the USATF Indoor National Championships. In the fall the women’s cross country team earned USTFCCCA All-Academic recognition. In his time at Long Beach, Duke and Williams College, Wales-Dinan has coach over 45 USTFCCCA All-Academic Individuals including the 2010 NCAA XC and 2011 NCAA TF Scholar Athlete of the Year.
Wales-Dinan came to LBSU from Duke University, where he served as an assistant cross country/track & field coach from 2011-12. During his time working with the Blue Devils, Wales-Dinan tutored one NCAA All-American, three NCAA finalists, eight NCAA qualifiers, 10 all-region performers, one conference champion and eight All-ACC runners. Wales-Dinan's student-athletes also excelled in the classroom as he saw 10 individuals earn USTFCCCA All-Academic honors.
Prior to his stint at Duke, Wales-Dinan was an assistant coach for the cross country teams and the distance coach for the women's track & field program at Williams College from 2009-11. At Williams, he coached 10 All-Americans and one NCAA Division III national champion in Jennifer Gossels, who won titles in both the 5000m and 10000m in 2011. That same year, Wales-Dinan became the first coach in NCAA Division III history to oversee four national qualifiers in the women's 10000m.
Wales-Dinan assisted in guiding the Williams College men's and women's cross country teams to consecutive NCAA Division III championship appearances, including a runner-up finish for the men's squad in the fall of 2009. The men also won the conference and regional title in 2009. On the women's side, Wales-Dinan coached Gossels to NCAA Regional Athlete of the Year accolades and a second-place performance at the national championships, the second-highest finish ever by a Williams female runner. As a student-athlete, Wales-Dinan was a three-time All-New England Division III athlete at Bates College. Wales-Dinan graduated from Bates College with a bachelor's degree in economics in 2005.
After graduating, Wales-Dinan served as the head coach for the cross country and track & field teams at Traip Academy in Kittery, Maine, from 2005-08.
