The 5-foot-3 senior raced to the individual title at the state Meet of Champions this past season with a time of 17:09. Perez also took second at the national Eastbay Cross Country Championships in 17:19.7 to earn All-American honors and broke the tape at the Eastbay Northeast Regional Championships in 17:21.5. She also won the Group 2 state meet, the Shore Coaches Classic and the Six Flags Wild Safari Invitational. Perez’s winning time of 16:44 at the Big North Championships was the fastest 5K in New Jersey history by a prep girl.
Perez has maintained a weighted 4.29 GPA in the classroom. She has signed a National Letter of Intent to run on scholarship at the University of Florida this fall.
Perez has raised funds to benefit breast cancer research and mental health awareness, and has volunteered locally on behalf of the public library, trail clean-up initiatives and charity road races.