Wheelock College Men's Cross Country

Oke joined the Wheelock College Athletics staff in August of 2012 as the department's Athletics Assistant and assumed the role of Head Men's and Women's Cross Country Coach in February of 2013.  A native of Western Massachusetts, Oke starred for the Amherst Regional indoor and outdoor track teams, competing in sprint and relay events. In addition to his duties as Wheelock's Cross Country mentor, Oke is a key member of the college's athletics staff, managing all day to day administrative tasks for the department.  He is also heavily involved with such departmental efforts as student-athlete compliance, game-day operations, overseeing work study staff, coordination travel arrangements for the Wildcats as well as scheduling.  Originally from Amherst, MA, he is no stranger to the Boston area or the Fenway section of the city for that matter, having gained experience at Simmons College, Northeastern University, Harvard University, the Boston Cannons and the Boston Breakers.  For nearly five years, Oke developed a relationship with Simmons College, serving in various capacities with the fellow College of the Fenway institution.  He spent two athletic seasons as the Sharks Sports Information Assistant, where he was a key cog in the colleges 25th Anniversary of Basketball and 30th Anniversary of Crew events at the school.  He also analyzed the feasibility of adding new sports as well as income for the colleges on-campus sports center.  In addition, he assumed the roles of Assistant Resident Director of one of Simmons resident halls as well as Coordinator for Intercollegiate Athletics, where he gained experience overseeing the operation of a residence hall on campus and as an event manager for athletic tournaments.  Oke supervised a large staff of student workers, while coordinating team travel and scheduling of events.  He also concurrently served as the Director of Conference Communications for the Great Northeast Athletic Conference, where he managed the leagues website, coordinated information from the conferences member schools and publicized the league and its members.  Oke has also been very active throughout the Boston area as well, cutting his teeth at the Division I level with Northeastern and Harvard.  Most recently, Oke was an Athletic Development Assistant for Northeastern, where he helped the Huskies enhance their relations with alumni through events and the development of reports.  At Harvard, he served on the Marketing and Game Day Promotions staff to distribute marketing materials and assist in various halftime promotions.   He also honed his event management and promotions skills with stints as a Game Day Production Volunteer for the Boston Breakers professional womens soccer team as well as the Fan Zone Manager for the Boston Cannons professional mens lacrosse team.   A frequent volunteer around the city of Boston, Okes passion for serving his community is very much in line with the mission of Wheelock Athletics.  He has shared his time at Fenway Victory Gardens, Community Servings, Saturdays/Sundays, Cradles to Crayons and the Boston Living Center.  Oke is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of the United States Sports Academy with a bachelors degree in sports studies and also earned a masters degree from Northeastern in sports leadership.  He currently resides in Somerville, MA.

Coogan joins the athletic department as an assistant coach for the men's and women's cross country teams.  Coogan is currently working at the Commonwealth Sports Club in Allston while bringing athletics experience from Wellesley College. She graduated from Wellesley in 2013 with a major in Spanish where she was a member of the varsity crew team for four years. Coogan had a very successful crew career as her team placed in the top five twice at the Head of the Charles Regatta and in the top five at the NCAA Division III National Rowing Championships all four years they competed. Coogan most recently ran in the Graniteman Triathlon (2013), New Bedford Half Marathon (2015), and the Boston Marathon (2015). At the Graniteman competition she was the third place finisher in the 18-29 age bracket as well as the fourth place female at the half marathon (New Bedford) and was the 75th place women's finisher at the 2015 Boston Marathon. 

Dinius joins the Wheelock College cross country coaching staff as an assistant coach. Dinius most recently served as a Sport Psychology Intern with Wheelock athletics as she works towards her Master of Education degree in Counseling: Sport and Performance Psychology at Boston University. Dinius moved to the East Coast in 2014 after completing her undergraduate studies in Classics at Stanford University. She was a research assistant with Stanford Sports Medicine as well as a varsity athlete. Dinius ran varsity for the cross country, indoor and outdoor track and field teams for four years. She was named team captain three times while earning three Academic All-American honors, and four Athletic All-American honors. Dinius is currently training for the Olympic Trials in the marathon and 10,000m and a spot on the United States National team. In 2014, she placed in the top 10 at the US Half Marathon Championships and US 10,000m championships, as well competed for Team USA Cross Country in Scotland and Trinidad & Tobago. Dinius is a 2016 Olympic Marathon Trials Qualifier.