Salam School Boys Track Team are ITC Conference Champions!
May 16th, 2019   The Salam Stars track team was supposed to compete in the Indian Trails Conference Track Meet on Wednesday, May 8th, but due to cold weather it was rescheduled to the following Wednesday.  Everyone was looking forward to the meet, but were a little relieved they wouldn't be spending hours in the wind and rain.   Finally the day arrived and it brought perfect weather!  The Stars piled into the long john (the name the students have given to the school van) and a rental to start the forty-five minute drive to Delavan-Darien High School.     Upon their arrival, the Stars find a spot high on the bleachers to set down their bags.  A group of students head to a grassy area to pray Thuhur and Asr as a team. After prayer, every field event athlete went off to their event to warm up and get marks.  Coach Petrick was proud that all the athletes have a handle on their own events and can make check-in on their own; a sign the athletes are focused and ready to compete.     Field event athletes scored 69.5 points of their teams 183 points.  Salam School’s first ever high jumper, Zachariya Schaub, became a Conference Champion by clearing a height of 5 feet 6 inches.  Noah Oweisi competed in the high jump for the first time ever and placed third, clearing 5 feet. All long jumpers scored points towards the team’s overall score.  Jenin Ismail jumped a personal record of 11 feet 7 inches, good for a 5th place finish. Ibrahim Bektesi became a Conference Champion by jumping 18 feet 6 inches and Khalif Abdur-Rahim placed right behind him with a jump of 17 feet 11 inches.  Throwers also put on a clinic in the shot put and discus events. Jumana Badwan, 25 feet 7 inches, and Safiya Schaub, 22 feet 11.5 inches, placed third and fourth in the shot put and then 6th and 7th in the discus throw. Ahmad Shahin threw 73 feet 3 inches in disc, good for second place and Hamza Jaber took third with 70 feet 10 inches.  In shot put, Ahmad took second again with a throw of 32 feet ½ inch and Hamza clinched fourth by throwing 29 feet 3.5 inches.   The first running event was the boys 4x800 relay, which had Esleem Abduljalil leading off, followed by Mohamed Sarsour, Qatada Banifadel, and Abdel-Rahman Kadadha as the anchor.  The relay team started the meet off right by placing second overall and setting the tone for the rest of the team to bring their A game. The sprint relay team that Mr. Petrick put together a few weeks before the conference meet was a highlight of the night.  They crushed the competition and took first place in both the 4x100 meter relay and the 4x200 meter relay. The relay consisted of mostly freshman and included Khatab Omar, Yasir Abdi, Moehamed Ra Za, Mohaimen Ali, and Sanad Daas. We knew the 4x400 meter relay team was going to dominate because it is full of our veteran track athletes; Zachariya Schaub, Ibrahim Bektesi, Khalif Abdur-Rahim, and Noah Oweisi.  That squad did not disappoint and easily secured another first place victory.   Next up was the 100 meter dashes.  Jenin Ismail and Ibrahim Bektesi captured fourth and Khalif Abdur-Rahim came in fifth.  Jenin Ismail again scored points in the 200 meter with a fourth place finish. Noah Oweisi became the Conference Champion with his first place finish in the 200 meter and Ibrahim Bektesi secured third.  In the 400 meter dash, Esraa Salim took 8th and Noah Oweisi secured another Conference Champion title with a first place finish; a full second ahead of second place. Another event that made the Salam coaches proud was the boys 300 meter hurdles.  Both competitors, Ahmad Shahin and Mohamed Abdikadir, finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Abdel-Rahman Kadadha finished eighth in the 800 meters, scoring the team another valuable point. And last but not least, Omar Javier took fifth in the 3200 meter race, the final race of the meet, with a time of 15:04.55.     The Salam School boys track team were crowned the overall champions with a total score of 152 points.  The next closest score was 95 points. This Conference Championship title is Salam School’s first title in track & field and our first title in five years.  The girls also dominated, however their lack of numbers negatively affected their overall team score. Only four Salam girls competed, but each girl scored a point towards the overall total.  The girls team score of 31 points was enough to beat out two other teams at the meet. Salam School and the community are so proud of this team’s achievement and cannot wait to see if any of these athletes make it to the WIAA State Track Meet.     The official results can be found here. ...

A Letter from Head Boys Basketball Coach, Tim Smith
April, 3rd, 2019 My name is Coach Tim Smith and I have been coaching the game of basketball for just under 25 years. Ive coached multiple levels of grade school basketball for many of those years while coaching my 2 sons (Josh and Tyler) through out their grade school...