including both hurdles races. ….

including both hurdles races.

Kloth also participated in swimming and tennis as a Raider. Thanks to a year spent at Washburn High School, she holds the rare distinction of competing at the state track meet in all three divisions.

Josh Sperl, a 1998 graduate, won eight letters in three sports, including four in wrestling. Sperl went from being Medford’s Most Improved Wrestler in 1995 and earning a Captain’s Award in 1996, to leading the team in takedowns, reversals and near falls and finished second in the WIAA Division 1 145-pound state bracket in the 1996- 97 season. He was one of the leaders on one of Medford’s best-ever teams, the 199798 squad, that came within a point of qualifying for the Division 1 team state tournament. Individually he won the Lumberjack Conference championship and returned to state where he won the 145-pound Division 1 championship.

Sperl was a two-year letter winner in football, where he was a second-team All-Lumberjack Conference defensive back in 1997 and an honorable mention choice in 1996 and once held school records for season kickoff return average (26.2 yards) and kickoff return yards in a game (192). He was a two-year letter winner in baseball and was the team’s co-Most Improved Player in 1998.

Megan Strama, a 2004 graduate, was a standout in track and field and gymnastics and was a four-year letter winner in both.

Strama joined the Kloth sisters and Mallory Zuelsdorff on that WIAA Division 2 state championship 800-meter relay team that beat Columbus by 0.63 seconds in a time of 1:44.81. Strama was part of the 2003 Division 1 state-qualifying 800-meter relay team, the 2004 statequalifying 400-meter team and she qualified for state in the Division 2 long jump in 2004. Strama was also part of several Lumberjack Conference champion relay teams and won the league’s long jump title in 2003.

In gymnastics, Strama qualified for state in two events in 2004, placing sixth in the WIAA Division 2 floor exercise that year with a score of 9.017 and 18th on the balance beam with an 8.217. She remains the school’s record holder with a floor score of 9.375 that was achieved in the 2004 sectional meet and earned multiple team Most Valuable Gymnast awards. Her all-around school record score of 34.8 points stood for 17 years until it was broken this past February.

First-time nominee Dave Vaara earned induction following his retirement from teaching and coaching this past spring. He was the school’s volleyball head coach from 1994 2017. His teams won four Lumberjack Conference titles and back-toback GNC championships in 2015 and 2016. Medford made its lone state appearance in the sport under Vaara in 2002, reached WIAA Division 2 sectional finals in 2001 and 2008 and won additional regional titles in 2009 and 2011. Vaara’s teams won well over 400 matches in his time as head coach.

Vaara was the Medford’s head coach for 22 years, leading the Raiders to GNC titles in 2016 and 2017 as well as Lumberjack Conference titles in 2004, 2006 and 2007 and 12 WIAA Division 2 team sectional appearances, including thirdplace finishes in 2006 and 2017.

Vaara was the girls basketball head coach in the 2016-17 season.