The fifth annual Medical Lake Athletic Hall of Fame inductions take place this Saturday night during an awards dinner that will be held at St. Anne’s Catholic Church beginning with a social hour at 5:30 p.m.
Five athletes and the 1992 Medical Lake state championship wrestling team will be added to the current group of members. New additions to the hall, besides the 1992 wrestlers, include Mike VanMatre (class of 1972), Danny Alderman (class of 1981), Sam Petersen (class of 1985), Jennifer Maxwell (Jundt) (class of 1985) and Brandon Moore (class of 1998).
The new inductees will also be honored during Medical Lake’s Homecoming football game Friday against Chewelah.
Tickets for the dinner and ceremony are still available for $20 and can be purchased or reserved by contacting MLHS vice principal/athletics director Chris Spring at 565-3293 or cspring@mlsd.org.
Dan Alderman
Graduated 1981
An all around student athlete while at Medical Lake High School, Danny Alderman excelled from the start. As a first year student, Alderman was his freshman class president and member of the student council. It was during his freshman year that he set a new MLHS high jump record in track. He placed first in the long jump that year at the Frontier League meet.
Alderman’s leadership and athletic skills continued to show throughout the remainder of his Medical Lake career as a team captain in basketball and MVP honors in track.
As a senior, Alderman was named team captain in both football and basketball and made the All Frontier League Football team and was most Inspirational for the Cardinal squad. In the spring he led the MLHS track team as captain, set more school records and qualified for state and was named the 1981 school’s male athlete of the year.
Alderman attended Eastern Washington University and Washington State University. He pursued a degree in applied psychology and later went to work with the state of Washington at Lakeland Village working with the developmentally disabled for the past 22 years. He and wife Lydia have three children.
Jennifer Maxwell (Jundt) Graduated 1985
An outstanding student athlete throughout her high school career, Maxwell was always proud to represent MLHS and did so with a spirit and dedication that has so often seen the Cardinals come out on top.
She excelled at volleyball, basketball, and tennis, lettering multiple times in all three. She achieved First Team All Conference honors in both volleyball and basketball her senior year, making her selection as MLHS Female Athlete of the Year no surprise.
Besides playing sports, Maxwell involved herself in other areas of school life as well. She participated in band, was the junior class Homecoming princess, and then in her senior year was a Junior/Senior Prom Princess and Homecoming queen.
Maxwell attended Seattle Pacific University and earned a B.A. in Clothing and Textiles. She went back to school and received her B.A. in elementary education at EWU, later teaching and coaching and now in a family business.
Brandon Moore
Graduated 1998
Brandon Moore was a dominant force while playing sports at Medical Lake High School. A local news reporter had dubbed him “Bad Medicine” and the nickname stuck. He excelled in football, basketball and baseball, lettering multiple years in all three sports. He earned multiple all-league and other honors. In the summer of 1998 Moore was selected to play in the East/West All State football game where he was named Defensive Player of the Game. He also was a starter in the All State basketball game.
Moore was recruited heavily out of high school and accepted a full athletic scholarship to Eastern Washington University and played four years of football, receiving Big Sky Conference Honorable Mention his final two years.
Following graduation in 2004, Moore played briefly in the both the Canadian and Arena Football Leagues. He went to work for the state of Washington as a probation officer in Everett, Wash. Moore later became a social worker and is working on his master’s degree.
Sam Petersen
Graduated 1985
Lettering in wrestling for four years, football for three and track for two, Sam Petersen stayed busy. As a wrestler, Petersen earned All League and team honors each of his four years at MLHS.
Petersen also played football and played it well. He was named Cardinal “Sticker of the Year” twice, was a team captain and made the All League honors on both offense and defense as a senior. He was recognized as the MLHS Male Athlete of the Year as a senior.
Following high school, Petersen attended North Idaho College on a wrestling scholarship and later wrestled at Eastern Washington University, graduating in 1989 with a B.A. in education and a M.A. in history. He began coaching in the Medical Lake School District in 1988 and teaching at Medical Lake Middle School in 1991.
Petersen has coached 24 years of football, 20 years wrestling as well as track, basketball and baseball. Petersen accumulated a dual meet record of 116-73-1 in wrestling, won four league championships and coached 33 state medalists and five state champions.
Mike VanMatre
Graduated 1972
An all around athlete while attending MLHS, Mike VanMatre lettered all four years in track, three years in football and two years in basketball. He earned numerous team and all-league honors in the Northeast A League. VanMatre culminated his high school athletic career by being named Outstanding Senior Athlete.
In the fall of 1972, Mike accepted a football scholarship at Spokane Falls Community College, later transferring to and graduating from Eastern Washington University with a B.A. in education in 1976.
VanMatre student-taught and coached at University High School in the Spokane Valley. In 1988 he completed a masters degree in secondary school administration and began pursuing an administrative career for the remainder of his 31 year career in education, retiring in 2007.
At the time of his induction into the MLHS Athletic Hall of Fame in 2012, and after 37 years of marriage and having raised two daughters, Mike and his wife Gayle decided to leave the Spokane Valley and move back to the Medical Lake area, “coming full circle.”
1992 Cardinal
Wrestling Team
Even though wrestling is often thought of as an individual sport, it takes a lot of teamwork to win the first state title in Medical Lake High School athletic history. The 1991-92 Cardinals were determined to live up to their rankings in the polls. Although ranked No. 1 in the state at the beginning of the season, they were not at full strength until halfway through the season. The successful football team that year kept many wrestlers from joining the team until late in the season.
The Cardinals sent nine wrestlers to the state tournament. Medical Lake led from start to finish, and while they had no individual champions, the team won the state championship title by a wide margin, ending the final day with 115 points, the seventh highest team score in A/B state history.
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