As Lowry High School was enjoying one of its most successful winter seasons on the wrestling mat and basketball floor, there was one more reward left for the school to accept.
The Buckaroos wrestling and girls basketball team brought home state champions on the athletic side as well as academics, while the boys basketball squad was back in the state tournament for a sixth consecutive season. In addition, the Lowry boys were named state academic champions as well.
As head coach Chad Peters readied his team for the state tournament at the end February, he was notified that he was named the Division I-A Athletic Director of the Year.
"I enjoy what I do for Lowry High School, being a coach and being an athletic director for two years," Peters said. "It's a great honor to receive the award and I very humbled by it. It's nice to be honored by your peers."
Peters has since resigned his post from athletic director at the school, to spend more time with family. When he came aboard as athletic director, he helped start a new scheduling system that the Division I-A North now uses for all it's teams.
"I kind of spearheaded that and got that going," Peters said. "I was the new young kid and everyone in the group and it was like hey do this, so I went with it."
Peters gives a lot of credit to Vince Mendiola, who coached Peters in high school and the duo won a state title in 1992. Mendiola was also the Buckaroos' athletic director.
"I been around Vince for so long, I patterned what I did after him," Peters said. "I tried to do everything like Vince did, because he did a great job."
Since the summer of 2013, Peters has worked alongside Ray Parks, who is the vice principal/athletic administrator at Lowry. The two have worked on a number of projects, including a partnership with Humboldt General Hospital that saw the construction of two new training rooms, the donation of an ATV and a number of travel bags for the school.
"I know for a fact that nobody works as hard as Ray Parks does for Lowry athletics," Peters said. "His job as a vice principal takes his whole day up, yet he's still doing things for Lowry athletics. That is why this position is what it is. One person can't do it and he just doesn't have the time. A lot of people don't understand that there are 18 sport programs at Lowry High School. It is an amazing endeavor and never-ending job. You meet once a month on a Monday with the other athletic directors and a full-time job the rest of the week. I appreciate everything that Ray has done with me and trusting me with what I have done at Lowry. He works hard for the kids and it shows. The people who actually spend time with him know that. I don't think people appreciate what he does. If his truck is at the school he is there somewhere on campus."
Peters also thanked his mother (Jessell), brother (Eric), wife (Dana) and son (Cal) for letting him take the time to be the athletic director. Peters will continue his basketball coaching duties.
"It was something I wanted to do," Peters said. "I have turned the corner and my effort will be focusing on my family. I need to give them more of my time. I am still going to coach basketball and be with the kids."[[In-content Ad]]
