Pepper Marks capped her history-making high school wrestling career at Santa Barbara High with a moment she never dreamed about when she got into the sport.
Marks signed a letter of intent to continue her athletic and education journey in college.
She was one of seven Santa Barbara senior student-athletes to sign college letters during a ceremony at Peabody Stadium on Wednesday.
Marks is headed to Southern Oregon University. The school in Ashland, Ore. just won the inaugural NAIA Women’s Wrestling National Championship.
Also signing on Wednesday were John Shafer for water polo at Pomona Pitzer, Davis Flanagin for track & field at New York University, Tiffany Ball for swimming at Westmont College, Gabriel Gallardo for lacrosse at Messiah University, Evan Encell-O’Hara for swimming at Cal Lutheran and Charlie Covington for track & field at Westmont.
Marks made athletic history at Santa Barbara and on the South Coast by becoming the first girls wrestler to win a CIF-SS championship in her junior year. She repeated as a senior and became the area’s first girls wrestler to advance out the CIF Masters Meet to the State Championships, where she finished sixth.
She competed at the National High School Coaches Association National Championships in Virginia Beach, Va. and placed eighth to earn All-American honors. She is only the second wrestler in South Coast prep sports history to be honored as an All-American.
After signing her letter, Marks admitted it wasn’t a dream to wrestle in college.
“My dream was just to win some matches,” she said with a laugh.
Now that’s she signed to compete at the next level, “I’m beyond excited. I’m really happy,” she said. “I love wrestling and I’m doing it outside of Santa Barbara. I’m doing what I love.”
Parks visited Southern Oregon and enjoyed meeting the wrestling team and liked the town of Ashland.
“It’s just so beautiful out there, and it’s not too far from home,” she said.
Marks said she enjoyed “wrestling for everyone” and worked hard to advance as far as she could in high school competition.
“Coach (Mark) Fidel had another athlete who went to nationals and I wanted to become his next person to get to nationals. I said I’ll work extra hard and put in the hours just so I can take him with me to nationals, because I love him as my coach. He’s just a fantastic coach.”
She wore her High School Nationals All-American T-shirt at the signing ceremony.
Marks said she plans to pursue a major in criminology and hopes to become a police officer.
Flanagin, the Channel League leader in the triple jump and long jump and second in the 100 meters, said he plans to concentrate on the jumping events and maybe do some sprinting at NYU.
He said he’s excited to attend college in the big city.
“To start, it’s a great school, which was my main criteria, and I really liked the city. I know that’s kind of tough for some people, but I think it’ll be interesting. I’m the right person for it.”
He plans to major in political science.
Gallardo said Messiah felt like “the right place for me and definitely where I need to be.”
Messiah, located in Mechanicsburg, Pa., is a perennial contender in the MAC Commonwealth Conference.
“Congratulations for fulfilling the dream of getting to play at the next level,” Santa Barbara Athletic Director Todd Heil told the signees. “You’re taking that next step, which is what all of us athletes wanted to do. You all get to achieve that and we’re super proud of you.”