A Stormed-Out Season for Deerfield Track and Field

LUCIA KINDER

Associate Editor

On May 3, 2025, a thunderstorm hit the St. Paul’s, Choate, and Deerfield track meet—leading to the third cancellation this season. Students from all three teams gathered in the Koch Center to wait out the rain before hearing news of a cancellation almost two hours later.

Throughout the season, the athletes and coaches have faced a series of cancellations. “It’s been a really rough season for normal training and development,” Director of Training Tara Keegan said.

Boys Track and Field Head Coach Andy Stallings said the coaches have had to ask the question: “what can we do to make sure that the positive energy in the program is sustained and that the culture remains a positive one?” He—and the other coaches—prioritize the competitive drive and focus of the team; as he described, the team culture comes from the athletes’ consistent work ethic and passion for the sport. “The culture for the team as it is right now... was defined four years ago, when we had a group of older kids on the team who were talented athletes and dedicated workers,” Mr. Stallings said. The group of students emphasized a positive, tight-knit team culture while setting an example of perseverance and consistency. Now, the team’s culture comes out of the athletes rather than the coaches, he added. “Everyone that shines is really bought into the team culture,” Girls Track and Field Head Coach Callie Gray said.

In 2020, the Athletic Program split the track team into a girls’ and a boys’ team. “That’s really when I saw the girls team thrive,” Ms. Gray said. She described how prior to the gender split, athletes would often use track as a cross-training sport for other athletics—now, she feels like students identify as track athletes, creating an even stronger team culture. “That ownership on the team was really important,” she added.

Still, both the boys’ and girls’ teams practice together. Captain Allegra Alfaro ’25 noted the broader gender divide across Deerfield at school meetings, sit-down meals, and in the classroom—but she said, “The track team is very immune to that divide.” As a girl, she said she feels “so much safer than” practicing with the boys team. Each team brings a unique spirit, energy, and focus to practice, Dr. Keegan described; she said, “From the girl’s side, it’s this keen seriousness of purpose, and they’re very organized. They’re also very fun, but this year’s boys team leads with [a] goofy, approachable mindset that helps them stay calm…”

This season, the team has maintained their unique spirit and culture, even with the lack of competitive opportunity, Alfaro described. “We do really thrive at meets. I think that’s when the team comes together,” she said. Ms. Gray also touched on the optimistic energy throughout multiple cancellations, saying, “What’s impressive to me is that this team has found meaning without a lot of competition.”

Alfaro described the need for personal motivation; this season in particular, she found that the most successful athletes had the strongest personal motivation, since they didn’t have the same number of external success markers. “The people who stick to one event and work at it succeed the most personally because they’re... not super driven by records.”

At the canceled meet with St. Paul’s and Choate, the athletes competed in an impromptu dance-off. “They [the coaches] said they enjoyed watching us turn something bad into something good,” Kwasi Adu-Gyamfi ’26 said. He added, “We all went through the same experience… we definitely bonded through it, because this is the first time a meet’s been canceled. It’s an experience we have to get over and keep working through as a team.”

Ms. Gray noticed the conversation and connection between all schools—they interacted with a communal rather than competitive mindset. Typically, the Deerfield-Choate rivalry does look different at track meets, both coaches and athletes described. The nature of the individual sport creates more personal competition—as Mr. Stallings said, “You can lose to a team and still be really happy with the way that everyone competed.” He added that it’s noticeable that Deerfield and Choate aren’t “taunting each other and angry with each other.”

Going into New England’s, the end-of-season meet with a total of 17 schools, Alfaro said, “I think the team has been still very strong despite the competitive meets this season.” As Adu-Gyamfi put it, the cancellations have inspired stronger team bonds. “That brings you closer together,” he said.