What a year it has been across the Hampshire County sports world. From January to December, the Pioneer Valley witnessed one of its very own capture a trio of gold medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics, a local college team capture an NCAA national championship, several historic seasons among high school programs and much, much more.

While it’s impossible to include everything, here are a handful of sports storylines that shaped the year 2024:

Florence’s Gabby Thomas goes 3-for-3 in Paris

How could Gabby Thomas not be the first one mentioned in this story. Thomas, who attended Williston Northampton School, won three gold medals in the three events she participated in during the 2024 Paris Olympics.

She won gold in the 200 meters, the 4x100 relay and the 4x400 relay, joining swimmer Torri Huske and gymnast Simone Biles for the gold medal lead on Team USA.

Thomas’ Paris performance puts her in an elite group of American women who have won three gold medals in track and field at the same Olympics. That list includes Wilma Rudolph (1960), Valerie Brisco-Hooks (1984), Florence Griffith-Joyner (1988) and Allyson Felix (2012). She joins Felix, whose 2012 Olympic performance helped inspire Thomas to start running track at Williston, as the only American women to win gold in the 200, 4x100 and 4x400 at the same Olympics.

Amherst College men’s soccer captures second national title in nine years

The Mammoths have established themselves as one of the best men’s soccer programs in the entire country in Division 3, and they’ve been a mainstay in the Final Four over the past half decade. And this year, Amherst picked up its second national championship since 2015 – defeating Connecticut College 4-3 in sudden-death penalty kicks on Dec. 5.

Amherst has been to four of the last five national title games (2019, 2021, 2023 and 2024), and the Mammoths have made the NCAA tournament each year under head coach Justin Serpone. They haven’t won less than a dozen games in a season since Serpone took over in 2007, and they’ve yet to have more than three losses in conference play in a single campaign.

That kind of success doesn’t happen overnight. Serpone has built something special at Amherst, although he’ll never take the credit for it.

Smith College women’s hoop makes championship game

Ever since Lynn Hersey took over as head coach of the Smith College women’s basketball team in 2007, the Pioneers have embarked on a steep, uphill trajectory. After winning five games in her first year, Hersey turned Smith into a powerhouse just four years later – winning 23 games and earning NEWMAC coach of the year.

And in 2024, the Pioneers reached the Division 3 national title game for the first time in program history. Smith won 30 games for the second straight season, and Hersey was recognized as the D3hoops.com National Coach of the Year as her team fell just short of hoisting the D3 crown in a loss to NYU.

Still, Smith College has certainly earned a spot on this list for its consistent success year in and year out.

UMass men’s soccer, field hockey make most of at-large bids

In what was their final seasons as members of the Atlantic 10, the UMass men’s soccer and field hockey programs got into their respective Division 1 NCAA Tournaments via at-large bids after strong regular seasons. And both of them made sure they weren’t in the big dance for a quick pit stop.

The Minutewomen marched all the way into the Final Four and faced a Northwestern team that had beaten them handily earlier on in the season. But UMass put up a fight, and ultimately lost 1-0 in a highly competitive matchup. It was a special year, one that saw the Minutewomen reach the national semifinals for the first time since 1992.

As for the Minutemen, they upset the No. 6 and No. 11 ranked teams en route to an Elite Eight appearance – where they fell to No. 3 Denver. UMass hadn’t been to the national quarterfinals since 2007.

UMass’ seismic move from Atlantic 10 to MAC

Back in the spring, UMass Director of Athletics Ryan Bamford and the rest of the athletic department released a statement announcing its move to the Mid-American Conference starting in the 2025-26 academic year.

As schools across the nation changed their conference affiliations because of football, Bamford wanted to secure a conference home for the Minutemen, a relatively new FBS program that had never been a full member of an FBS conference. MAC commissioner Jon Steinbrecher admitted he thought UMass needed to find an all-sports conference home “at some point” and referred to their previous relationship as a MAC affiliate as “renting, not owning.”

It’s a massive shift in the history of UMass athletics, a founding member of the A-10.

Belchertown boys swimming wins first-ever WMass title

Luke Giguere emerged from the water, and his eyes immediately darted to the scoreboard in the Springfield College pool. When he saw “BELCHERTOWN” accompanied by the number one, his emotions took over.

Giguere slapped the water and let out a huge scream, as his unreal final leg (46.62 seconds) in the 400-yard freestyle relay helped the Orioles come from behind to defeat Longmeadow by less than three-tenths of a second. Ryan Shea, JR Zlogar and Ryan Gould took care of the first three legs to help put Giguere in a good position for the comeback.

Not only did Giguere’s anchor in February solidify a win in the event, it also capped off Belchertown’s first MIAA Central/West Swimming championship in program history – running away with first place by over 36 points.

South Hadley, Northampton girls basketball’s deep tournament runs

Throughout 2024, perhaps no teams had more success than the South Hadley and Northampton girls basketball squads. The Tigers won the Western Mass. Class B title en route to a 19-game winning streak that landed them in the Division 4 state championship game. Although South Hadley lost to Cathedral, a state powerhouse, it still had one of the best Hampshire County girls basketball seasons in recent memory.

“We’re on a mission and we’ve been on a mission all year,” South Hadley head coach Paul Dubuc said before the state title game.

Northampton also witnessed a historic dance through the Division 2 tournament, as it reached the Final Four for the first time since the new state postseason format. The Blue Devils defeated No. 2 Walpole in the quarterfinals – the same team it faced and lost to in that exact round the year before – thanks to a momentum-swinging half-court shot from Bri Heafey and clutch plays from senior Ava Azzaro and freshman Emme Calkins.

Northampton lost to Worcester’s South High School in the semifinals, but in a stacked Division 2, a Final Four run is unquestionably impressive.

So, there you have it. A year filled with championships, heartache and everything in between has come to a close. As 2025 kicks off, we’re excited for yet another 365 days of pandemonium in the sports world across Hampshire County