Thursday was a proud day at the Pitman High campus as three athletes signed letters of intent to play at the next level. Over 100 supporters, ranging from family members, coaches and friends, witnessed the trio of Pride athletes commit to play for their respective colleges.
Andrea Selkow (Austin College in Sherman Texas), Yisel Perez (Stanislaus State) and Isaiah Marable (Sacramento State) all signed in front of the big crowd gathered before them with Athletic Director Dave Walls offering motivational words for the athletes.
Marable will pursue track and field while Selkow decided to continue playing basketball and begin her pre-med career. Perez decided to stay at home and attend Stanislaus State and play for the Warrior volleyball team.
“I looked at other colleges, but none are like home. I put myself in reality and thought I want to stay home with my family and Stanislaus has a great volleyball team,” said Perez. “I visited two other colleges, but then it hit me that I want to stay home. It's fun here and I have all my friends here as well.”
Perez knows a thing or two about a great volleyball team after she completed her fourth year at the varsity level with the best program in the section—Pitman.
As part of the Pride, Perez played a significant role, especially last year when she helped her team earn its third consecutive Division-I Sac-Joaquin Section Championship.
Perez was nearly unstoppable with the Pride as they won the Central California Conference in all four years. She was also selected as a first team all-league pick in 2015 and 2016 when she led the Pride in kills with 320 over 100 sets played.
Perez joins a Stanislaus team that comes off a historic year where they captured their first postseason win after going 14-15 overall for the year.
Selkow is coming off her best season yet while at Pitman after finishing with the third most points per game.
This along with her outstanding work ethic and outgoing personality earned her a scholarship to play college basketball at Austin College in Sherman, Texas.
“When I visited, I felt at home in Texas since Sherman is a lot like Turlock,” said Selkow. “Some people might say otherwise but I love Turlock, so I felt at home. The coach is amazing, the culture and the philosophy, everything is great and they have a good pre-med program, so it had academics, community culture feeling and I felt like I fit in instantly.”
The Pride finished the season with a 17-11 overall record and 9-3 in the CCC while earning a playoff berth for the second consecutive season.
In 26 games played during the 2016-17 season, Selkow averaged 7.1 points, while grabbing 6.6 rebounds per game, including nearly three blocks per game.
She was also selected as the All Defensive Player of the Year, first team All-League and first team All-Journal and tallied 11 blocks in a game.
“This last year I found out early on it didn't matter what other teams were doing, it only mattered if I worked hard,” said Selkow.
Marable was a star at just about everything he did, including varsity soccer, basketball, band and track.
He progressed at a higher pace than most, but track is where he flourished and really found his home.
“Track wasn't my first love, it was basketball, but after my sophomore year it started to fall together for me. After my sophomore year, I knew college was a possibility and I pursued it. I chose Sacramento State because it felt like home to me and after my visit I knew that's where I wanted to go.”
Marable also broke multiple schools record, including in the 4x4 and 4x1 relays. It's what earned him a scholarship to Sacramento State.
“Playing basketball all my life it helped me with track. I know it’s mostly about me and my event, but I love supporting my teammates in their event and I love the team atmosphere,” Marable added. “I am looking forward to building relationships with my teammates because the team is real close and always hanging out and I am excited to pursue my career in physical therapy.”
