Anne (Clark) Cather was the anchor for three straight state-qualifying teams at Salem and help lay the foundation for the girl’s golf program that began her freshman season.

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.
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The 1991 Salem Wildcats football team turned in one of the best seasons in school history with a stifling defense that shut out four opponents and limited three others to only one touchdown.

The North Egypt Conference co-champions compiled a 9-2 record, a victory total topped only by the 1985 team’s 10-1 mark, and at the time of its inductions was one of only three Salem football teams to have won a playoff game.

Coach Scott Steward’s team kicked off its season with a 35-21 win over Centralia in the annual Shriners Game, as running back Brad Mabrey rushed for a school record 354 yards and had touchdown runs of 48, 6 and 57 yards.
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An incredible postseason ride helped the 1994 Salem girls 800 medley relay bring home the first state medal by a Salem relay team in school history, boys or girls.

The quartet of Angie Burroughs, Julie Bierman, Trisha Ward and Serra Morton, which was coached by Suzanne (Henry) Brown, broke the school record in three straight postseason races. They began their path at the Class AA sectional race where they defeated a very tough East St. Louis squad on its home turf as well as several other strong relay teams from the metro east and southern Illinois with a first place time of 1:51.1.
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Coach Bill Morgan’s 1991 Salem Wildcats golf team compiled an impressive resume, which included a North Egypt Conference championship, a regional crown and an overall 63-8-1 record.

Salem was nearly perfect in the regular season where it compiled a 47-1 record. The Wildcats won the NEC Meet, which was played at Lawrenceville, by 33 strokes over second place Carmi. Salem’s winning score of 304 included a 73 from NEC individual champion Mike Williams and a 75 by runner-up Blake Morrison. The Wildcats also got identical rounds of 78 by Ryan Andrews, Jeff Morgan and Mike Russell.
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Many of the same faces that helped the Salem Lady Wildcats golf team to a 13th place finish at the 1989 state meet and a tenth place mark at the 1990 state meet took the program to even greater heights in 1991.

The program won its first ever regional and sectional championship and improved its state meet finish to ninth under the direction of Coach Bill Morgan.

Salem lost just once during the regular season and compiled a 39-1 record going into the state meet before it settled for the final mark of 44-9.  During the regular season the Lady Wildcats won the Benton Invitational by 15 strokes over Carterville, an event where Julie Morgan and Anne Clark tied for Medalist honors. The Lady Wildcats were even more dominant when they won the Olney Invitational, as they had a 27- stroke margin of victory over second place Benton.  Amber Boyles was the individual medalist in that tournament. (more…)

Kristi (Beeson) Propst used her running and jumping skills to become a state medalist and record holder during her track career at Salem Community High School.

A 1989 graduate of SCHS, Propst wasted no time making a big splash on the track scene when she won a sectional championship and earned an eighth place finish at the Class AA state meet as a freshman in 1986. Propst’s leap of 5-5 that season stood as the school record for 14 years until Brittany Bowers broke it by one-half inch in 2000.

Propst still owns or shares three school track records including the 100 meter high hurdles at 15.2 set in 1989 and the 300 meter low hurdles of 45.8 set in 1987.
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