WAKEFIELD HIGH finished in the top 10 for 2022-23 Boston Globe’s Dalton Award presented to the schools in Massachusetts with the highest overall combined winning percentage throughout all sports. It is the second season in a row that Wakefield has finished in the top 10. (File Photos)
By DAN PAWLOWSKI
WAKEFIELD — For the second consecutive year, Wakefield High finished in the top 10 for the Boston Globe’s 2022-23 Dalton Award.
This award is presented annually to the high schools in Massachusetts with the highest overall combined winning percentage for all of their school’s sports.
For the 2022-23 season, Wakefield finished at No. 10 in the Dalton Rankings.
“It has been an amazing two-year run for our Wakefield HS Athletics Department,” said athletic director Brendan Kent. “To finish in the top 10 in the state two years in a row is a tremendous accomplishment and I am so incredibly proud of all of our student-athletes and coaches at Wakefield High.
“I am very blessed to have some unbelievably talented coaches and student-athletes that I get the privilege of working with every day. Our coaches and student-athletes put so much time and effort into what they do, and I truly believe that their effort and attitude have been the key to their success. Talent only gets you so far in life. To be great, you have to be willing to outwork your competition, and our student-athletes and coaches have done just that.
“Our coaches have done a great job of improving the culture over the past several years; building their programs on core values such as respect and effort. When you can develop a positive team culture built on values like that, the wins and losses take care of themselves.”
Kent was also quick to credit the community of Wakefield for their support.
“While our coaches and student-athletes deserve the bulk of the credit for this accomplishment, I also have to give credit to the Wakefield community at-large. Whenever I am trying to recruit a new sports coach to come to Wakefield, I always tell them that this is a great community to build a high school sports program in and I genuinely mean that. Anyone that has ever come to one of our home state tournament games knows exactly what I am talking about. The Wakefield community truly supports our Wakefield HS sports teams and I am so grateful for that. Whenever we have a big game, all of our youth sports coaches in town bring their teams out to the game to cheer us on. Whenever one of our teams wins a state championship, the police and fire departments give them an escort down the center of town, while all the local citizens cheer them on. It makes our kids feel like a million bucks.
“Whenever we need additional funding for certain things, our booster clubs, local businesses and/or alumni are always very quick to show their support and all of our town officials are always very supportive of our high school sports programs.
“This accomplishment was a total team effort and it is something that the entire community of Wakefield can be proud of. So on behalf of the Wakefield HS Athletics Department, I want to thank the Town of Wakefield for their continued support and we hope to continue this momentum into the 2023-24 school year.”
