My name is Sam Peterson, and I am the new sports editor! I love how much support local sports teams receive in small towns, and I am excited to jump on the beat as the new sports editor for the Swift County Monitor, Stevens County Times, and Grant County Herald.

I am a member of the Benson High School Class of 2012, so I am very excited to be back covering sports in my high school stomping grounds.

Sports have been a significant part of my life ever since I can remember. It has helped me connect with my family, develop new friends and taught me the value of hard work and practice. I played all sports as a kid but settled on football, basketball, and golf in high school. Some of my favorite memories of high school include playing in a packed Benson gym with the pep band jamming, competing against Morris at St. John’s in the basketball playoffs, and experiencing the thrill of playing at Big Cat Stadium in Morris, which was the only turf field I was ever able to play on.

I went on to attend Gustavus Adolphus College, where I played golf and one year of basketball while pursuing my degree in communications.

Since then, I have worked six years writing at newspapers. I covered everything from council meetings to Valentine’s Day parties at school, but I always gravitated towards sports coverage. Now, getting to focus all of my time on some type of sport will be a dream come true for me.

I currently live in Clara City with my wife Kendra and our 14-month-old daughter Lily. We love to play golf as much as we can at Hawk Creek Country Club in Raymond, and little Lily loves to take rides on the cart. My wife Kendra is nearly as obsessed with sports as I am. If my wife were to beat me home, it would be a safe bet to say a football or basketball game is already on the TV.

My goal for the sports pages for all three papers will be to provide our readers with comprehensive and engaging sports coverage that resonates with each one of you. Not just boxscores of games, but full game recaps, human interest stories, updates on local high school alums competing in college, and much more.

In conclusion, I am very excited to call myself your sports editor and can’t wait to get into the controlled chaos that is the high school season coming up this fall. Whether you are a sports nut like myself or casually interested in skimming through the latest sports results, I am committed to making the sports pages in all three papers as great as they can be. If you have any interesting sports stories, reach out and drop us a lead; I would love to hear from you!