Led by a core group of sophomores with some talented upperclassmen mixed in, the 1996 Salem Lady Wildcats volleyball team began a three-year run that saw the program go 89-15. The 1997 and 1998 teams were previous selections for the Salem High School Sports Hall of Fame.

Under the direction of Coach Suzanne Henry-Brown, the 1996 squad started that stretch of success with a 26-7 overall record that included a perfect 7-0 record en route to the North Egypt Conference championship. The Lady Wildcats dropped just one set in league play. It also included the championship of the Class AA Salem Regional and advancement to the championship game of the Belleville East Sectional.

Salem cruised through most of the regular season. The Lady Wildcats sported a 22-3 record before they dropped three straight with setbacks to Kansas and Shelbyville in the final two games of the Edwards County Tournament followed by a match against Centralia. Salem snapped its late-season slide in the regular season finale with a hard-fought 15-11, 15-13 victory over Fairfield that clinched the NEC championship.

The Lady Wildcats successfully defended their home floor during the regional as they rolled past Mt. Vernon in the semifinals 15-3, 15-0 followed by a 15-7, 6-15, 15-9 win against Centralia in the championship match that avenged that late-season loss to the Annies. Salem extended its season when it knocked off Granite City 15-6, 15-10 in the opening round of sectional play. A powerful Belleville West squad ended the Lady Wildcats postseason run with a 15-2, 15-4 verdict in the title match.

Audrey Husk won the first of her three straight NEC Most Valuable Player Awards, while Trisha Hustedde joined her on the First Team. Husk and Hustedde were also Class AA All-South selections. Malissa Finney was an NEC Second Team choice and Marissa Tolliver was Honorable Mention. Emily Steavens received the squad’s Best Defense Award and Chandra Hensley was Most Improved.

A 1999 graduate of Salem Community High School, Steers was a four-year member of the Lady Wildcats volleyball program and a three-year starter. During that three-year run from 1996-98 Steers helped Salem compile records of 26-7, 31-5 and 32-3. Those squads won the North Egypt Conference crown each season, three regional titles and the program’s first sectional championship in 1997. Steers was an NEC Second Team selection for the 1997 and 1998 teams.

While Steers had a solid volleyball career at Salem, she elevated her game even more when she moved on to Parkland Community College in Champaign. That success began in the fall of 1999 when she helped Parkland compile a 54-9 record that ended with the NJCAA Division II national championship. With Steers up front at the net, the Lady Cobras made a return trip to the national tournament in 2001 where Parkland took home a sixth-place finish and a 45-15 record. Steers, who was one of the top blockers in the country, was a big reason for that trip to the national tournament as she was a Midwest Athletic Conference First Team selection and a member of the All-Region 24 First Team. Steers was rewarded for her success at Parkland when she was inducted into that school’s Hall of Fame in 2007. Steers transferred to Eastern Illinois University for her junior and senior volleyball seasons. During her time at that school Steers received the school’s ROTC Leadership Award in 2002 and was a member of the Ohio Valley Conference All-Academic Team in 2003.

Besides her accomplishments on the volleyball court, Steers was also a key contributor to the 1998-99 Lady Wildcats basketball team that went 28-3, won the NEC championship with a perfect 14-0 record and reached the Class AA Elite Eight. Steers, who was an NEC Honorable Mention selection that season, led Salem to its first regional championship when she poured in a career high 28 points in a 78-51 victory over Chatham Glenwood. She averaged 8.7 points per game that campaign, was the team’s third-leading rebounder and was one of its best free throw shooters at 73 percent.

Steers did not stay away from athletic competition for long after her playing days ended as she entered the coaching field in 2004 as the head volleyball coach at Macon-Meridian High School. She later served as head volleyball coach at Mahomet-Seymour High School where her team won a Class 3A regional championship in 2015. Steers has had assistant volleyball coaching stints at Parkland College, Blue Ridge High School and Mahomet-Seymour Junior High School. Steers has also coached multiple seasons for PrimeTime VBC, a club volleyball team based in Champaign.

At the time of her induction into the SCHS Sports Hall of Fame Steers resided in Mahomet where she was a certified surgical technologist at Gibson Area Hospital.

At the time of her induction, Brimberry had spent 23 seasons on the sideline as the Lady Cougars volleyball coach. Brimberry began her stint in 1994 and during her coaching run she has compiled a record of 547-177, a highly impressive .756 winning percentage. Her teams have compiled 17 20-win seasons, three 30-win seasons, and ten Class A/Class 1A regional championships. Her 2004 team won a school record 34 games, while her 2011 team won the program’s first sectional championship and advanced to the Class 1A Elite Eight. Prior to the school’s move to the National Trail Conference, Brimberry’s teams won nine Midland Trail Conference regular season championships and ten MTC Tournament titles. Only once in those 23 years with Brimberry at the helm has South Central had a losing season.

Brimberry has also been a winner off the court as she overcame a battle with cancer that forced her to miss the 2014 volleyball season. She returned to the court in 2015.

Also during her time at South Central Brimberry has served as head softball coach and assistant girls’ basketball coach.

A 1978 graduate Salem Community High School graduate, Brimberry played volleyball softball and track for the Lady Wildcats. Brimberry was named the Lady Wildcats Most Valuable Player for the 1978 softball season.

Brimberry continued her athletic career and education at Kaskaskia College where she played softball and volleyball for the Blue Angels from 1978-1980. Brimberry completed her education at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville.

After she completed her education Brimberry returned to Salem Area where she assisted the Salem Recreation Department with multiple sports. It was also in the Salem area where Brimberry began her coaching career at the grade school level as she coached volleyball for three seasons at St. Theresa and two seasons at Selmaville.

Besides her long-time duty as volleyball coach at South Central, Brimberry serves as a special education teacher. She has also served as student council sponsor and FCA sponsor at South Central.

A 2001 SCHS graduate, Wolfe had to wait two years for a talented senior class that won 63 games during that span to crack the Lady Wildcats lineup. Once she got her chance as a junior in the 1999 season, the middle hitter was named the North Egypt Conference Most Valuable Player Award. Besides her individual honor, Wolfe helped Salem compile a 25-7 record to along with an NEC and Class AA regional championship. Wolfe won another NEC MVP Award in volleyball during her senior season in 2000, as she helped the Lady Wildcats put together a 22-6 record and another NEC title.

Although Wolfe also had to wait until her junior season to crack the Salem starting lineup in basketball, she proved to be a valuable sixth man as a sophomore for the 1998-99 Lady Wildcats squad that went 28-3, won the NEC championship and advanced tot he Class AA Elite Eight. Jones averaged 8.2 points per game as a sophomore and earned NEC Honorable Mention status. Wolfe proved to be an early threat from long range, as her 38.5 percentage from three-point territory (25-65) ranked ninth best in school history at the time of her induction. She also qualified for state competition in the Country Financial Three-Point Shot competition.

When Wolfe moved into a starting role in the 1999-2000 season, she became the NEC’s leading scorer at
22.7 points a game and received the NEC Honorary Captain Award, the league’s second-highest honor behind MVP. The 611 points Wolfe scored that season ranked sixth in school history at the time of her induction.

Wolfe finished her high school basketball career with another strong season during the 2000-01 campaign, as she averaged 19.9 points a game and was named the NEC’s Honorary Captain for the second season in a row. Wolfe was especially deadly at the free throw line where she made 105 of her
131 attempts, good for an 80.1 percent mark that ranked second in school history. Wolfe was named to
the Southern Illinois Coaches Association All-South Team for the second year in a row to go along with a Second Team spot on the Champaign News Gazette All-State Second Team and the IBCA All-State Third Team. Wolfe finished her SCHS career with 1,517 points, a total that ranked fourth in school history.

Wolfe, who received the Salem Times-Commoner Female Athlete of the Year Award in 2000, chose basketball and Southern Illinois University at Carbondale to continue her education and athletic career.

During her time with the Lady Salukis Wolfe had a 33-point game that ranks fifth in SIU-C history and tied the school record for most three-pointers in a game with seven. She finished third in career made three-pointers and sixth in career three-point percentage.

Wolfe entered the coaching ranks after graduation from college, as she coached girls basketball one season at Casey Middle School in Mt. Vernon and four seasons at Selmaville Grade school.

Wolfe joins her father, Don Jones, in the SCHS Sports Hall of Fame. Jones was inducted in 2005.

Megan Grizzle Kessler was an outstanding three sport athlete all four years of her tenure at SCHS. She was voted 1st team NEC Volleyball in 1997 and second team all NEC in 1998. In track she was a member of the 1997 indoor 3200M Relay record setting team. Megan was the 1998 Robert Raver Outstanding Field Athlete and in 1999 she made a shot put throw of 37’5″ which stands as the 5th best throw in Lady Wildcat Track history.

In basketball she was the 9th female in school history to score over 1,000 career points and started every game all four years of her basketball career. She was 1st team NEC in 1997 and 1998 and was awarded the NEC Co-MVP in 1999. She was voted the team MVP in 1998 and 1999. Megan was a part of the 28-3 Elite 8 team in 1999 and was given AP All State Honorable Mention in 1999.

Megan then played her college basketball at SIUE and there she made a NCAA Division II Tourney appearance in 2001. After graduating from SIUE she became a SCHS faculty member and coach. Megan coached girls track for five years and is currently coaching girl’s basketball and golf.

Megan has been previously inducted into the Hall of Fame as a member of the 1999 Girls Basketball Team and the 1999 Girls Volleyball Team.

Returning all but two players from a school-record breaking performance in 1997, the 1998 Salem Lady Wildcats Volleyball team etched their own chapter in the school’s record book.

Salem’s 32-3 mark broke the 1997 team’s school record for wins by a team and the Lady Wildcats were undefeated against Illinois competition until their final game.

The first of two regular season tournament championships for Salem came at Carbondale, as the Lady Wildcats went 5-0 to claim the top spot. Salem won its pool by beating Carlyle, Sparta and Carbondale and finished things off by beating Sparta again in the semifinal round and Freeburg in three sets in the championship match. Senior Audrey Husk was selected to the all-tournament team.

Both of the Lady Wildcats regular season losses came at the Effingham Crossroads Classic where Salem finished seventh in the gold medal division. Salem beat Shelbyville and Montgomery County, Mo. to win its pool, but lost in bracket play to St. Joseph’s Academy of St. Louis and Herman, Mo. Salem’s other tournament championship came at Edwards County. The Lady Wildcats won their pool by beating Benton, Effingham and Grayville followed by a semifinal victory over Kansas and a straight-set win over North Clay in the title match. Husk along with seniors Chandra Hensley and Renee Brubaker were all-tournament selections.

Coach Suzanne Henry earned a personal milestone early in the season, as a 15-1, 15-3 triumph over Red Hill at B. E. Gum Gym gave her 200 wins for her career.

The team’s eight-member senior class of Husk, Hensley, Brubaker, Megan Grizzle, Paula Gregg, Trisha Hustedde, Marcia Schaubert and Krissy Kolmer celebrated Senior Night with a straight-set win over Fairfield that clinched Salem’s eighth straight North Egypt Conference championship and their 7-0 league mark for the year extended their conference winning streak to 30 games.

The Lady Wildcats began the state’s new sectional complex format for Class AA by winning their own regional, as they knocked off Cahokia 15-2, 15-1 in the semifinals and Centralia 15-4, 15-2 in the championship.

Salem remained at home for the sectional and a 15-9 , 15-7 victory over Belleville Althoff in the semifinal round was the team’s 32nd of the season to break the 1997 team’s school record for wins.

For the third straight season, Salem’s postseason path was ended by a school from Belleville, this time the Mighty Maroons of Belleville West in the sectional championship game. Salem won the first set 15-8, but dropped the next two 15-8, 15-9. The Lady Wildcats had a 9-7 lead in the decisive third set, but Belleville West scored the final eight points to win the match.

Husk closed out her high school career with her third straight NEC Most Valuable Player Award. Brubaker and Hustedde garnered NEC First Team honors, while Hensley and Grizzle were selected to the Second Team. Gregg and Schaubert received Honorable Mention.

The 1997 Salem Lady Wildcats Volleyball team went where no team in the program’s history had ever gone before and no team has made it that far since at the time of their induction into the Salem High School Sports Hall of Fame.

Returning a large nucleus from the 1996 team that won 26 games and was a sectional finalist, the 1997 Lady Wildcats smashed the school record for wins in a season by going 31-5 and advanced to the Class AA Sweet 16.

All four regular season losses came during tournament play. Salem was third at the Carbondale Tournament beating Marion, Mt. Carmel and St. Jacob Triad (twice), but fell in the semifinals to eventual champ Belleville Althoff.

The Lady Wildcats were sixth in the gold medal division at the always rugged Effingham Crossroads Classic. Salem won its pool by beating Dieterich and Montgomery County, Mo. The Lady Wildcats also downed Kansas during bracket play, but were upended by Hartsburg-Emden and Normal University High during the medal round.

Salem posted a third place finish at the Edwards County Tournament. The Lady Wildcats won their pool by beating Mt. Vernon, Cisne and Mt. Carmel before falling to Kansas in the semifinals. Salem Wildcats closed out the tournament with a win over Fairfield.

Salem picked up its 20th win of the season during the straight-set victory at home over Effingham St. Anthony and clinched the program’s seventh straight North Egypt Conference championship with a 15-13, 15-1 victory at Fairfield in the regular season finale. Salem went through the NEC season with a perfect 7-0 mark and in the process extended its league winning streak to 23 games.

The Lady Wildcats made school history during the first rung of the postseason ladder when they downed Mt. Vernon 15-0, 15-1 in the semifinal round of the Centralia Regional, as their 28th win of the season broke the previous mark of 27 held by the 1987 team. Coach Suzanne Henry’s crew won that regional two days later when it beat the host school 15-4, 15-0.

A 15-10, 15-8 victory over Charleston in the first game of the Olney Sectional was the 30th of the season for the Lady Wildcats and a 15-8, 15-4 win over Taylorville in the championship match gave Salem its first sectional championship.

The Lady Wildcats returned home for the super-sectional, but their hopes of advancing to the state tournament were derailed when they fell to Belleville East 15-1, 15-5.

Salem achieved its success despite having only two seniors on its roster, setter Marissa Tolliver and outside hitter Shannon Ozaras.

Seven Lady Wildcats earned All-NEC honors led by Audrey Husk’s second straight Most Valuable Player Award. Tolliver and Megan Grizzle were NEC First Team selections, while Chandra Hensley and Trisha Hustedde were Second Team. Ozaras and Renee Brubaker received Honorable Mention.

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.

While Tamminen competed in cross country and track during her high school career, the 1994 SCHS graduate made her biggest impact in volleyball and basketball.

Tamminen was an anchor in the middle for three consecutive Salem North Egypt Conference championship squads, a streak that began in 1991 and carried on through her senior season of 1993.

The Lady Wildcats also won regional championships during her junior and senior seasons.

Tamminen was an NEC and All-South First Team selection as a sophomore, junior and senior and won the NEC Most Valuable Player Award as a senior.

Tamminen was also highly successful on the hardwood and still holds school records for most rebounds in a season with 367 and most rebounds per game average at 15.3, both of which were set in her senior season in 1993-94.

In fact Husk holds the top two positions in the school record book in that category.

She pulled down 331 rebounds and averaged 12.3 boards per game as a junior.

Tamminen also holds two spots in the Lady Wildcats top ten record book for most blocked shots in a season.

Her 79 swats as a senior currently ranked no. 2, while her 20 blocked shots as a junior ranks no. 10.

Tamminen ranked no.4 on the school career scoring list at the time of her induction with 1,176 points.

She is one of only eight Salem girls’ basketball players who have scored 1,000 points in a career.

Tamminen was honored by the North Egypt Conference for her senior basketball season as the league’s Honorary Captain. Tamminen originally signed to play college basketball at McKendree College, but switched to Graceland College in Lamoni, Iowa prior to the start of her freshman season.

Tamminen continued to play basketball and volleyball for her first two seasons at Graceland before she decided to concentrate solely on volleyball for her final two seasons.

Tamminen’s best season at Graceland came in 1997 when she was named to the Heart of America Athletic Conference Volleyball Team.

During that season Tamminen had been selected as the HAAC Player of the Week.

During her volleyball career at Graceland she was also selected to the St. Edwards Tournament Second Team.

Tamminen was part of some highly successful volleyball squads at Graceland.

During her stay at the school Graceland won the HAAC Preseason tournament the HAAC regular season championship, the HAAC postseason Tournament and a regional tournament qualifier where they took third place.

Tamminen resided in San Clement California at the time of her induction.

Coach Kathy Finney’s squad compiled a sparkling 25-4 record and its .862 winning percentage ranked second in school history at the time of its induction behind only the 1998 team’s 32-3 record and .914 winning percentage.

The Lady Wildcats compiled a 22-3 regular season record that included second place finishes at the Salem Invitational and Flora Invitational. There was no North Egypt Conference season in place at that time.

Salem captured the district championship on its home floor with a 20-1, 20-5 victory over Effingham in the opening round and a 20-18, 20-6 triumph over Mt. Carmel for the championship.

The Lady Wildcats picked up the program’s first ever win in a sectional tournament when they knocked off Carbondale in three sets 20-15, 11-20, 20-18. Salem’s postseason run ended in the sectional championship game to Mascoutah 20-8, 20-12. At the time of its induction, only the 1997 squad that advanced to the Class A super-sectional Sweet 16 round had advanced deeper in the postseason than the 1977 Lady Wildcats.

Coach Finney’s rotation that season usualy included Kathy Smith, Laura Raver, Carol Beasley, Carla Doss, Marla Sapp, Robin Owen, Diane Beasley and Peggy Wilson.