Salem High School (Salem, Virginia) - Athletics and Extracurriculars

Athletics and Extracurriculars

Salem High School is a member of the Virginia High School League and competes in the AA River Ridge District, a district currently in Region IV of Group AA. Salem competed in the now defunct Group AAA Roanoke Valley District when it was opened but dropped down to the Group AA Blue Ridge District in 1988, a few years after Glenvar's student population left. When the Blue Ridge split in 2003, Salem was assigned to the new River Ridge District. Salem was a member of Region III from 1988 to 2007. In the 2013-2014 VHSL reclassification, Salem will be assigned to group 4A and remain in the River Ridge District for regular season competition. In the post-season, Salem will compete in Conference 24, which will consist of eight group 4A teams from the River Ridge, Seminole, and Piedmont Districts.

Salem has won several VHSL state championships in athletic and academic competitions. The football team, which plays in the Salem Football Stadium, and has won six Group AA, Division 4 championships, in 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2004, and 2005. Salem has also won Group AA state titles in boys basketball (1994, 1999, 2013), boys tennis (1993, 1994, 2011), girls basketball (2013), girls volleyball (1998), girls soccer (2003), golf (2012) and softball (1991). The school's only Group AAA team state championship was won by the boys golf team in the spring of 1983.

The Quiz bowl team (2003), coached by Mr. Fred Campbell, and forensics team (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012), coached by Mr. Mark Ingerson, have also won Group AA VHSL state championships. The forensics team holds the top four scores for team points in state forensics competition with 79 (2008), 69 (2007), 67 (2009), and 64 (2010) and team members have also won thirty-eight individual state championships since 2004. John Kayrouz, Kane Kennedy, Jonathon Walker, and Kathryn Zamorski are the only team members to have achieved 3 consecutive individual championships. Clay Bradshaw was the only member on the team to win a State gold medal his first year of competition. Kathryn Zamorski became only the third female in the state to win Humorous Interpretation and the only female to win it twice. She and Andrew Kearns competed in Serious Dramatic Duo the first year of the categories existence and dominated the competition. In Zamorski's final year on the team, she carried the team to victory, scoring 799 out of 800 points- higher than any score in VHSL forensics history.

Salem won the VHSL's Wachovia Cup in Group AA for academic competitions in the 2009-2010 school year.

The school's Pride of Salem marching band has also won competitions. The Laconian yearbook, directed by Mrs. Katie Reid, was awarded a Gold Crown from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) in 2007. Of 1800 yearbooks presented to the CSPA, less than 2% win gold. Only eleven high school yearbooks won gold in 2007, with Salem winning its first Gold Crown. The school offers a total of 31 clubs.