Inglemoor Athletic Director Lance Gatter Named District Two Athletic Director of the Year

Congratulations to Inglemoor High School’s Athletic Director, Lance Gatter, who was recently named Athletic Director of the Year for District Two. With this selection, Gatter will be a finalist at the state level. Due to COVID-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21 winners will be honored and announced at next year’s state conference. 

“This is very humbling for me as there are so many really good athletic directors in District Two and the KingCo conference,” said Gatter. “It is even more special that my colleagues are recognizing me with this honor.”

Gatter is the District Two Washington State Secondary Athletic Administrators Association (WSSAAA) mentor. According to WSSAAA’s announcement, he is respected by his peers and continues to reach out to mentor new Athletic Directors and create the best environment to promote education based activities. 

When asked what the most important part of being an Athletic Director is he said, “Being able to support kids and coaches as best you can to help them have the greatest high school experience possible both as an athlete and a coach. This means you have to be good at systems, as there are many aspects of the job that rely on systems and having them all work together.”  

District Two is comprised of Metro, KingCo, SeaTac and Emerald City leagues. Athletic Directors are nominated by their league and voted on by their peers for their service to the league. From there, nominees move to the district level and are voted on by the district board. Gatter was voted the winner by the District Two board.

“From day one, Lance has been a selfless colleague and mentor who not only is available, but actively reaches out to make sure things are going well and offer help where needed,” said Juanita High School Athletic Director, Jason Thurston. “As a wrestling coach by trade, it has been a pleasure to work with Lance on furthering Women’s Wrestling throughout the state. Women’s wrestling in Washington is better because Lance has chosen to help out in any way possible. In our profession it often isn’t the ‘big thing’ that makes the greatest impact, it is a consistent stream of ‘little things’ that work to make athletics better through the area. Lance is an Athletic Director that works hard on the little things and working with him has been a great benefit to me in my career.”