Peter Dalton enters his fifth season as the King College Men's and Women's Cross Country coach and the second season as the head coach of the Track and Field team. Dalton led the first-ever King College team to an NCAA national championship appearance and also secured the College's first-ever NCAA Regional Championship. In addition, he has played a major role in rewriting the Tornado Track & Field and Cross Country record books while maintaining a high level of academic excellence among his student-athletes.

Dalton set the bar high in his first season as head coach of the track and field team when the Lady Tornado captured the institutions first-ever Division II Southeast Regional Championship as a first-year NCAA member in 2010.

During the team's first season eligible for NCAA postseason participation the women's cross country squad placed second in the Division II Southeast Regional Championships. Their success at the regional level earned the Lady Tornado an automatic bid to the national championships, where they ran to a 22nd place finish. In addition to their success on the course, every member of the team was named a United States Track & Field / Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCA) Academic All-American. That year the team combined to earn the highest grade-point average (3.77) among all Division II teams.

In that same year, Dalton helped guide the men's cross country team to the best conference finish in program history and narrowly missed a trip to the National Championships, finishing third of 31 teams at the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Cross Country Championships. Naseem Haje earned All-Region honors by setting a new school record in the 10,000 meters while topping a second all-time school mark in the 8,000-meter run.

Dalton also supervised the rewriting of the women's indoor and outdoor track & field record books from the one-mile to 5,000 meters.

King Track & Field displayed an astounding introduction to Conference Carolinas with both teams finishing at the top of the conference at the 2012 Outdoor Track and Field Championships and witnessing three of his athletes earn Player of Year honors. The men's track & field team claimed a runner-up finish behind defending Field Athlete of the Year, Rickey Bell, while the women took third behind reigning Freshman of the Year, Maegan Henry.

The men's team had highlight performances from Bell, who won two field events and set a new Conference Championship record in the discus throw. He joined Naseem Haje (10k) and Jordan Noe (3,000-meter steeplechase) as individual champions while the 4x100 relay team set a Conference Championship record in their victory. Overall, King's men garnered five First Team All-Conference and seven Second Team All-Conference honors.

Maegan Henry stole the spotlight winning two field events and was named Freshman of the Year after setting a new school record in the hammer throw. Shelbie Burchfield hit the NCAA qualifying mark for the second time during the 2012 season en route to becoming Conference Champion in the women's high jump. Tia Keitt (long jump) and Hannah Witt (10k) also were crowned Conference Champions in their respective events, leading the Lady Tornado toward a third place finish in the Conference Championships. The team was awarded for their success with four First Team All-Conference selections and three Second Team All-Conference honors.

Under Dalton's guidance, the 2012 men's and women's track & field season (indoor and outdoor) featured 11 school records broken, 19 All-Conference honorees, and 53 named to the All-Southeast Region Team.

King's inaugural cross country season as members of Conference Carolinas asked the Tornado to challenge the top programs from the start. The men took home the runners-up while the women claimed a third place finish at the 2011 Conference Carolina Cross Country Championships.

Three male athletes were named to the men's All-Conference team and while all scoring five harriers finished below the 26:30 time barrier. Naseem Haje, Spencer Frantom and Jordan Noe were named to the 2011 NCAA Division II Southeast Region Team where the men's team just missed national qualifying by one position with a third place team finish.

The Lady Tornado mirrored the success of the men's team in the new conference with a third place finish and also placed three athletes on the All-Conference list. The ladies then combined at the 2011 NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Championships for a fourth place team finish and had two named to the All-Region team.

Academically, the 2011 men's and women's cross country teams were both recognized by the USTFCCA and placed on the Scholar Team award list. Danielle Alfano was named the Cross Country Scholar Athlete of the Year by Conference Carolinas and was later recognized by King as its Female Student-Athlete of the Year.

Under Dalton's guidance, every member of the 2008 cross country squad set new personal records. The men's team rallied during the 2008 Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) Championships to secure the program's best finish at the championships with a runner-up performance.

From 2006-07, Dalton was the assistant cross country and track & field coach at Milligan College. During his time at Milligan the women's cross country team finished third at the 2007 NAIA National Cross Country Championships while the men's team took second at the 2007 NAIA Region XII Cross Country Championships.

Dalton holds a USATF Level 1 coaching course certification and also coached locally with Jim Presnell of the Elizabethton High School Boys cross country team that ran to victory at the Tennessee State Cross Country Championship.

Coaching runs in the Dalton family as his father was a seven-time Irish National team manager for the World Champions. Continuous involvement at the highest coaching levels worldwide has prepared Dalton with all the necessary knowledge, passion and love of the sport to help give back to those that wish to succeed. Dalton's coaching exposure began at an early age under the tutelage of Irish Olympians Noel Berkeley and Gerry McGrath. Both Olympic legends have scientifically studied the art of distance running at the highest level and that experience is the foundation of Coach Dalton's coaching philosophy. Dalton was also fortunate enough to experience first-hand the coaching theories of NCAA Hall of Fame Coach Dave Walker during his time as a student-athlete at East Tennessee State University.

Dalton received his bachelor's degree in psychology from East Tennessee State University where he was a four-year cross country and track and field athlete for the Buccaneers. Dalton, a two-year captain, led the Buccaneers to the inaugural Atlantic Sun Indoor Track and Field Conference Championships and to the highest Buccaneer Cross Country conference finish in 12 years. Dalton was named to numerous All-Conference and All-Academic team for both cross country and track and field during his time at ETSU and was also named the Buccaneers MVP for two consecutive seasons.

Before arriving at East Tennessee State University, Dalton competed eight times for his native Ireland. As part of the D.S.D. Athletic Club, Dalton and his teammates won a record-setting eight consecutive national team titles and went on to finish third at the European Junior Clubs Cross Country Championships. He rose to prominence when he captured Ireland's first ever international victory at the British and Irish Mountain Running Championships, and went on to secure a 21st place finish at the World Championships.

Dave Milner enters his first year as an assistant coach with the King men’s and women’s cross-country and track & field teams. Milner joins King after one season at East Tennessee State University, during which he coached the middle distance runners and steeplechasers. Every one of the athletes Milner coached at ETSU lowered their PRs and one established a new program record in the women’s steeplechase. He was a key architect in the Buccaneer’s Atlantic Sun Conference team victory in 2012, with all of his athletes playing key point-scoring roles.

Milner brings to the Tornado program almost 30 years of competitive running experience and a dozen years of coaching experience. He got his start in coaching after graduating from the State University of New York at Cortland in 2000, where he majored in Psychology. While at Cortland, he struggled with injuries but was fortunate enough to find himself under the tutelage of legendary coach and physiologist, Dr. Jack Daniels, who Runner's World magazine dubbed the World's Greatest Running Coach.

Upon graduating from Cortland, Dave moved to Seattle where he wound up marathon runners, and then, having caught the coaching bug, accepted another job at Lake Washington High School in Kirkland, Wash. where they were State Champions on the track in 2001. 

Milner then moved to Nashville and served as a graduate assistant at Belmont University from 2002 to 2004, helping guide the Bruins to their first two Atlantic Sun conference titles.

He had three very successful years guiding the distance runners at Brentwood High School (Nashville, Tenn.). His boys’ and girls’ teams swept the regional championships each year Milner was at the helm and the boys' team reached their highest finishing position ever at the Tennessee State Cross Country Meet. He was three times voted Nashville Metro Coach of the Year. On the track, Brentwood won two straight state team titles. He coached Sean Keveren, the second fastest prep two-milers in Tennessee history, and a six-time state champion.

Milner returned to Belmont University in 2008 to serve as a full-time assistant coach with the men’s team. In four years at Belmont, the program’s all-time lists at 800m and 1500m were virtually rewritten, with the school records lowered six times by Marcus Bridger-Wilkinson, whom Milner recruited and coached. A proven recruiter he also brought on to Belmont’s campus over three dozen State Champions or runners-up.

Dave is a USA Track & Field-certified coach, has served as the Long Distance Running Chair for USATF-Tennessee and still runs competitively in races ranging in length from one mile to the marathon.  He also directs a number of running events, including the Music City Distance Carnival in Nashville, which arguably sees the greatest convergence of distance running talent in the south every year.

Always keen to soak up knowledge from the very best, he recently attended the ADP Super Distance Summit at the U.S Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Co., where he learned from legendary coaches Dr. Joe Vigil and Dr. Renato Canova.

Milner also coaches several post-collegiate runners. Most recently, he coached Patrick Cheptoek to clockings of 13:52 and 28:54 for 5K and 10K respectively, and also coached 42-year-old Sonja Friend-Uhl to a world indoor masters record for one-mile at 4:44.81 and then a U.S. masters record at 1500m, clocking 4:16.99.

Milner, who hails from Leeds, England originally, lives in Johnson City with Tracy, and their 1-year-old son, Benjamin.