It’s good to be back. Let’s make some headlines.
That is my succinct message to the athletes of Franklin County and the North Quabbin region. I am beyond excited to be back working at the Greenfield Recorder. It is so great to return to the same smiling faces that greeted me with regularity from 2019-2020.
My journalism career resembles a long windy road. But I absolutely love where it brought me. I’ve been in and out of the newspaper business since 2002 when I started at the Keene Equinox, the student newspaper of Keene State College. From there I began interning and freelancing at the Keene Sentinel. I have worked as far South as the Post and Courier in Charleston, SC. The high school football down there was ridiculous. I remember doing write ups and seeing names like A.J. Green and Carlos Dunlap.
I then returned to western Massachusetts and started working at the Daily Hampshire Gazette in 2011. I worked at the Gazette from 2011 through 2017. I then got a job at the Athol Daily News in 2018 before switching to the Recorder in 2019.
Since my exit from the Recorder in 2020, I worked at a school and did freelance sports reporting fairly regularly at MassLive. The work I did involved much bigger schools and UMass athletics. What I will enjoy the most is my return to smaller town high school sports. Where the relationships I build with players and coaches will enhance my ability to write good stories about them. Even during a short amount of time at the Greenfield Recorder, the memories I have of that stint are crystal clear.
The hockey team had just won its first ever state championship. Bryan Baumann and his timely scoring, who could forget? The overtime game-winner in the Division 3A finals against Wahconah was masterful.
I remember a playoff basketball game where the Pioneer Valley Regional girls basketball team almost pulled off an upset against second-seeded Ware. Azemina and Alina Cecunjanin got hot from the 3-point line. A last second attempt by Paige Loughman just missed.
Who could forget Delaney Parker for the Mahar girls soccer team? Parker was an absolute scoring machine and watching her run in the open field was breathtaking. I remember Skylar Dodge hitting dingers for the Mahar softball team. The Senators weren’t very good at the time, but Dodge was box office.
What about Katie Haselton of Greenfield? Haselton had over 100 points in field hockey and 1,000 points in basketball. An elite multi-sport athlete. I also remember Athol wrestler Chris Waslaske, who dominated the 182-pound weight class. These memories are just off the top of my head. There are so, so many more.
Do you see what I did there? I was told to write about myself. Have to admit, I’m not a fan. I am a vessel for athletes doing big things. They are the reason I am back working in Greenfield. I want to put your name in big, bright lights.
The new memories are already cementing themselves in my mind. Yolvin Ovalle-Mejia’s shirtless goal celebration for the Turners Falls boys soccer team. The Frontier Regional field hockey team knocking off the top-seed from Cape Cod in the Division 4 state tournament. Watching the Franklin Tech girls soccer team win its first-ever state tournament game.
I can’t wait to see what’s next during the upcoming winter season here in Franklin County and the North Quabbin region.
That’s it for me. See you at the game.
Adam Hargraves is a sports reporter at the Greenfield Recorder. He can be reached at ahargraves@recorder.com.