During that time, he led the Colonial women to the NCAA Rowing Championships in 1998 and he was named Atlantic 10 Conference Coach of the Year in 2000 and 2001.

His gold medal at the 1990 World Rowing Championships in the Men's' Lightweight Double Sculls in Tasmania, Australia would be his highest finish at the international level.

That gold medal performance was extremely unique because he and his partner, Robert Dreher, had to stop momentarily 400m into the grand final race to fix an equipment issue, before continuing on to win the event.

Peterson and Dreher would win the 1990 Vesper Cup Award for their performance which is given annually to the members of the US National Team for outstanding and inspirational achievement in international competition.

In 1996, Peterson qualified in the Men's' Lightweight Double Sculls to compete for the United States at the Atlanta Olympic Games.