Patrick Wales-Dinan

Patrick Wales-Dinan is in his ninth season leading the Monte Vista cross country and track & field programs. He came to Danville after nine years coaching at the college level, from 2008 to 2017, with stops at Harvard University, Duke University, Long Beach State University, Williams College and the University of Southern Maine. He brings the training approach and expectations of college programs to a high school team that competes in the East Bay Athletic League and the CIF North Coast Section.

Cross Country

Under Patrick, the Monte Vista girls have become one of the most consistent cross country programs in Northern California. They won NCS Division 2 championships in 2022, 2024 and 2025, including back-to-back section titles in the last two seasons. They finished runner-up in 2019, 2021 and 2023, so the girls have finished first or second at every NCS meet of his tenure for which results are available. The girls also won the 2024 EBAL league title. From 2019 to 2025, Monte Vista girls earned 15 individual top-10 finishes at the NCS Division 2 Championships, more than any other school in the division.

Two Mustangs won NCS individual titles under Patrick. Alexandra Powell won in 2024 in 17:55.3, and Kaylie O'Connell won in 2025 in 17:44.3 as a sophomore. In that 2025 race, three of the top six finishers were Monte Vista sophomores: O'Connell 1st, Nadya Makarova 5th and Ava Padilla 6th. Monte Vista now has six different NCS individual champions, more than any other school in the section.

The girls have reached the CIF State Championships as a team in every season of his tenure: 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 (no State meet was held in 2020). That run is part of a streak of 12 consecutive State team appearances dating back to 2013. The 2024 team finished 7th in Division II, and its 1:34:20 team time is the third-fastest by a Monte Vista team at State.

Individual Mustang girls have also produced some of the best State results in program history:

• Kelli Wilson qualified for State all four years and placed 16th in Division II as a senior in 2019.
• Alexandra Powell finished 15th in Division II in 2023 and qualified for State three times.
• Allie Turns and Alexa Leahey each made the State meet all four years.
• Nadya Makarova ran 18:04.0 at State in 2025, the fourth-fastest State time by a Monte Vista girl.
• At the 2021 Nike Cross Regionals California meet, Kinsey Pogue finished 9th and Sally Binder 11th.
• At the 2026 Clovis Invitational, O'Connell (17:33.5) and Makarova (17:40.2) ran the second- and third-fastest times ever by Monte Vista girls at Woodward Park. The team's combined 1:32:12 is the fastest by any Mustang girls team on the State course.

The boys program has grown steadily as well. The boys finished 3rd at NCS in 2019 and runner-up in 2021, and they have placed in the top six at the section meet every year since. Monte Vista boys earned eight top-10 individual finishes at the NCS Division 2 Championships from 2019 to 2025, third most in the division. The 2025 race was the best yet: Mateo Cafaro placed 2nd and Rohan Kotamraju 4th.

The boys qualified for State as a team in 2019, 2021 and 2022, and the 2021 team placed 10th in Division II. Their best State results under Patrick:

• John Loughery and Ethan Miller finished 17th and 18th in Division II in 2021.
• In 2022, Miller placed 6th in Division II in 15:15.5, the fastest State time in school history.
• Owen Brandeis was a three-time State qualifier.
• Mateo Cafaro placed 22nd in 2024 and 25th in 2025. His 15:20.8 in 2025 is the second-fastest State time by a Monte Vista boy.
• Rohan Kotamraju placed 6th at the 2026 Clovis Invitational in 15:30.5, one of the fastest times ever run at Woodward Park by a Mustang boy.

In all, Patrick's cross country teams have sent 42 different athletes to the CIF State Championships, for a total of 72 State races.

Track & Field

On the track, the Monte Vista girls won three consecutive EBAL championships from 2022 to 2024, making Monte Vista one of only two schools ever to win three straight league titles. At the section level, the girls placed 2nd at the 2023 NCS Meet of Champions with 41 points, the program's best finish at the section's top meet. They also placed 4th in 2025 and 6th in 2024. The girls won the 2025 NCS Tri-Valley Area championship with 66 points, after finishing 2nd in 2023 and 4th in 2024.

Monte Vista athletes have won 19 NCS Meet of Champions and Tri-Valley Area titles under Patrick. At the Meet of Champions, they won six section championships:

• 2019 girls 3200m: Kelli Wilson, 10:31.84
• 2023 girls 800m: Cate Peters, 2:12.77
• 2023 girls 4x400m relay: Isabella Moriyama, Cate Miller, Natalia McGowan and Cate Peters, 3:52.76
• 2023 girls 4x800m relay: Sally Binder, Sofia Fernandez, Peyton Dolan and Cate Peters, 9:25.91
• 2024 girls 4x400m relay: Cate Miller, Natalia McGowan, Peyton Dolan and Isabella Moriyama, 3:55.36
• 2025 girls 4x800m relay: Sofia Fernandez, Nadya Makarova, Ava Padilla and Cate Miller, 9:13.96

At the Tri-Valley Area meet, Mustangs won 13 titles:

• Kelli Wilson: 3200m, 2019
• Sally Binder: 1600m, 2022
• Ethan Miller: 3200m, 2023
• Cate Peters: 400m and 800m, 2023
• Ash Rosati: shot put, 2023
• Ava Padilla: 1600m and 800m in 2025, and the 800m again in 2026 (2:10.02)
• Mateo Cafaro: 3200m, 2026
• Girls relays: 4x400m in 2023, and 4x800m in 2024 and 2025

The girls 4x800 has been a particular strength. It won the section title in 2023 and 2025, placed 4th in 2024, and finished 2nd at the 2026 Meet of Champions with Kaylie O'Connell, Ila Mustin, Nadya Makarova and Ava Padilla. Across the 2022 to 2026 seasons, Monte Vista girls scored 66 points in the distance events at the Meet of Champions, second among all NCS schools. On the boys side, Cooper Lowe placed 4th in the 1600m at the 2026 Meet of Champions.

Across both sports, Monte Vista athletes have earned 77 All-NCS honors under Patrick. These include top-six finishes at the Meet of Champions and top-seven finishes at the NCS Cross Country Championships, and they were shared by 31 different athletes. Peyton Dolan and Isabella Moriyama lead with six honors each, and Ava Padilla follows with five.