Salim attended High Point High School and was a member of the national championship team at the 1993 USA Independent Gymnastics Club national meet in Orlando, Florida. Umme also competed for Hill's Angels club and earned Maryland Level 10 all-around title and also finished second in bars and vault and third on beam. She advanced to regionals and produced a fourth place finish in the all around competition. That performance earned her a trip to Seattle for the Level 10 national meet. In 1993 she finished 13th and seventh in the all around and bars competitions respectively at the Level 10 national meet.

In her freshman year at WVU, she was named the Atlantic 10 Freshman of the Year and joined teammate Kristin Quackenbush as the only Montaineer who competed in every meet. She was WVU's No. 3 all-arounder and third on the team in vault and beam and fourth on bars. Salim had one first place finish and eight second place finishes. Her breakout meet was in front of the hometown crowd at Towson State where she won the all-around by placing second on the floor, third on the beam, fourth on the bars, fourth on the vault. She had a second place finish on the beam, third place on the vault versus Temple. She also turned in a third place finish in the all around and fifth at the Massachusetts. Salim had a good overall meet versus UMass with third place on the bars, sixth on the floor seventh on the beam and fifth all around. She took second on the beam against Penn State and Kent State while finishing sixth on the vault to finish fourth all around. At the LSU invitational, she placed sixth on the beam and also had a good meet against Rutgers with a second place finish on the beam, third on the bars, fourth on the vault, and eighth on the floor for a third place all around. Her best meet as a freshman campaign came at the Atlantic 10 championships with a then career high third place all-around including a second place on the floor, second place on the beam, fourth on the bars and eight place on the vault. At Southeast Regional she finished 12th, she however struggled at Nationals.

As a sophomore, Salim was named to the first team All-EAGL in all around and second team on bars and beam. She was also named to the EAGL All-Academic team. Salim was once again the only Mountaineer who competed as an all-arounder in every meet. She had her best meet of the season against Kentucky when she set then career highs on bars, beam, floor and all around. IN that meet Umme finished third on floor and vault. She finished second to Kentucky's Jenny Hansen in all around competition. She was named EAGL co-gymnast of the week for her efforts of a career high in her vault win against Rutgers. For that season, she had nine vaults of 9.7 or better, but she struggled on bars the second half of the season. At Kentucky, she had three second place finishes and one first. Salim had three consecutive second place bar routines versus Temple, Kentucky and Rhode Island and won the beam against Rutgers. Umme had top 10 finishes on floor in eight of 12 meets with her highest finish that season being a second place versus Temple. She won the all around versus Kentucky and Rhode Island additionally a second, two thirds and two fourths.

As a junior, Salim was named to the All-EAGL first team on bars and all around and also the EAGL all academic. She had the meet of her career versus Rhode Island when she set highs on bars, beam, floor, and all-around and as a result won the all-around. Salim had her streak of consecutive meets as an all-arounder come to an end in the March 15 home finale where she only competed on vault because of a shoulder injury. She had competed in 32 straight as an all-arounder with nine top six finishes that year, including five in the top three. Salim had eight top 10 vault finishes with a high of fourth twice. She also won three straight bars at the UNH Invite, at Temple and versus Rhode Island. Salim had six top six showings on the balance beam. She performed a fun floor routine with music from Grease which produced seven top 10 performances. She had a high of third place and a career high versus Rhode Island. Salim never finished lower than sixth in nine regular season meets. She had two seconds (Pitt, UNH Invite) and two thirds (Temple, Auburn Invitational) to go with her first against Rhode Island. Returning her senior year, she was the school record holder on the uneven bars and was primed for an All America season. Salim won WVU's "Iron Woman" as she had appeared in every meet her previous three years a streak of 35 consecutive and 34 times as an all-arounder.