BY NATE KOTISSO | STAFF WRITER
MISSION — Seated amongst family and friends inside the Sharyland Pioneer gymnasium, senior thrower Malaya Pistokache flipped through each piece of paper in her official letter of intent to find out where she was supposed to sign. Pistokache got help from her mother Teri, seated to Malaya’s right, who calmly directed the younger Pistokache to make her signing to the University of Houston official on Wednesday afternoon.
It was a small example of Pistokache’s support system coming through for her once again.
“Me sitting down in the chair, holding the pen, signing it (the letter of intent), looking up and seeing everyone there is something I used to dream about,” Pistokache said. “That usually helped push through all my workouts, track meets and everything, because I knew this was something I wanted to do. It’s the greatest feeling in the world.”
Pistokache ended her track and field career at Pioneer in a class all her own. She owns the fourth-best discus throw in the Rio Grande Valley this season at 128 feet, 1 inch. In the shot put, Pistokache threw a 40-foot, 11-inch attempt in the UIL Region IV-5A Meet in San Antonio back in April. The throw would become the best in the RGV and was good enough for Pistokache to participate in her first UIL State Track and Field Meet earlier this month in Austin.
“I’m so proud of Malaya. She’s come a really long way,” Pioneer track coach Sandra Guerrero said. “(University of Houston associate head coach/throwing) Coach (Will) Blackburn’s a really good coach, and I know he’s going to take good care of her, but I hate to see her go. I get that it’s a cycle every four years. You get them freshman year and you think she’s just a baby, then she’s a sophomore, then a junior and then you think about her graduating pretty soon. And finally, graduation happens. I’m proud of her, but it’s definitely bittersweet.”
With Thursday being Pistokache’s last day as a high school student and graduation taking place on Friday afternoon, Pistokache is aware of the temptation to begin her goodbyes. She was more interested in saying something else.
“I’m not really saying ‘goodbye,’ but I do want to say ‘thank you’ a lot more,” Pistokache said. “I made a lot of good friends and formed awesome relationships with coaches down here. I wish I can do more for these people to say ‘thank you for everything you’ve done for me.’ If anything, the way I’ll say ‘thank you’ is if I go up there (to Houston) and I use everything they’ve ever taught me. I’m going to do the best that I can to make them proud.”