Coach Bill Morgan’s 1990 version compiled a 19-3 regular season record. One of the biggest highlights of the regular season came when the team broke the school record for low score in a nine-hole meet when the Lady Wildcats shot a 179 in a meet against Olney at the Salem Country Club.

Salem’s postseason journey began with a second place finish at the Mt. Vernon Regional. Anne Clark led the Lady Wildcats with a tie for second place with an 86; the other counters included a 95 by Connie Cantrell, a 98 by Julie Morgan and a 99 by Amber Boyles.

Next up was a trip to the Belleville Sectional. Led by an individual sectional championship by Clark, Salem punched its ticket to the state meet as a team with a second place finish. Clark paced the field with a 90, while Cantrell checked in with a 101. Morgan had a 105 and Leslie Horn was the fourth and final counter with a 132.

Salem improved its score by 24 strokes and its place by three spots from the previous year when it shot an 832 and placed tenth at the state meet.

Clark finished up a stellar individual postseason run with a 19th place finish and a score of 182. The other counters were Morgan with a 211, Cantrell with a 213 and Horn with a 230. Also competing for Salem at the state meet were Boyles, who shot a 232, and Sarah Cosby who had a 264.

Gomez spent the first two years of her prep career at Newcomb, New Mexico and twice helped lead that school’s basketball program to the state tournament. Newcomb had a combined 45-5 record during those two years.

Gomez made the move to Illinois for her junior year and followed Newcomb basketball coach Janet Holst to Salem. Gomez continued her success on the hardwood with the Lady Wildcats and was an All-North Egypt Conference First Team selection in both her junior and senior seasons.

Gomez’ athletic talents carried beyond basketball at Salem. It carried over to track and volleyball. During her junior track season Gomez was a member of the NEC 3200-meter relay champions. She was also a starting setter on the 1996 Lady Wildcats volleyball team that went 26-7, won the NEC and regional championships and advanced to the sectional championship games.

Gomez received a basketball scholarship at Illinois State University and was a four-year letter winner for the Lady Redbirds (1997-2001). During her time at ISU Gomez led the Lady Redbirds in three-point field goals made with 32 during the 2000-01 season. At the time of her induction, Gomez still ranked ninth at ISU in career three-point field goals (91), ninth in career three-point field goal attempts (262), tenth in career three-point field goal percentage at 35 percent (91 for 264) and 25th in career assists (193).

After graduation from ISU, Gomez became a child services specialist at Catholic Charities West Side Head Start Program.

The 1992 SCHS graduate played in nine postseason meets and led the Lady Wildcats in eight of those. That included the regional and sectional as a sophomore for a Salem team that finished 13th at the 1989 state meet. Cather had arguably her best high school postseason in 1990 as a junior when she was the individual runner-up at the Mt. Vernon Regional, the individual champion at the Belleville Sectional and finished 19th at the state meet for the Lady Wildcats squad that improved its state finish to tenth. Cather led Salem in all three of its postseason meets as a senior, as she was fourth at the Murphysboro Regional, seventh at the Edwardsville Sectional and 24th at the 1991 state meet. Cather’s performance helped Salem win its first ever regional and sectional championship and helped the Lady Wildcats improve their place at the state meet by another notch to ninth.

Cather continued her golf career at Kansas University where she played and lettered in four seasons (1994-97). Cather earned All-Academic Big 12 honors in 1997 and was KU’s top finisher in six tournaments. Her best tournament finish was a fifth place effort at the Southwest Missouri State Invitational. Cather finished her collegiate career with an 82.03 average that ranked third on the squad that year and won the Jayhawk Leadership Award as a senior.

In addition to her time on the course at Kansas, Cather was an active volunteer at Camp Jayhawk, Special Olympics and the St. Lawrence Catholic Center. Cather also served as an intern at the Kansas City Golf Association. Cather later obtained a master’s degree in business administration and served as an assistant golf coach at the University of Arkansas.