Multi-sport Athlete Welcomes the Challenges
For student-athletes, finding a balance between their sport and everything else on their college plate is a skill that鈥檚 in constant development. But what about doing two college sports?
That鈥檚 a mountain that incoming star and freshman Kharis Perona is willing to climb. She鈥檚 used to putting in work to meet challenges.
Perona, who plans on majoring Spanish, will play lacrosse for Molly McCourt while running cross country under the leadership of Kathleen Strecker.
鈥淚t鈥檚 always the goal to recruit someone who is the perfect fit for your program, but you also want the program and university to be the perfect fit for them, too,鈥 McCourt said. 鈥淜haris is what a Rockhurst student-athlete is all about 鈥 the person who doesn鈥檛 like to be average, whether it鈥檚 on the field or in a classroom. I鈥檓 very excited to see what she brings to our lacrosse program, but also to our community.鈥
鈥淲e are excited to have her as a dual sport athlete at Rockhurst,鈥 Strecker said. 鈥淜haris has the work ethic and determination to excel at both sports.鈥
That work ethic and determination has been needed in the last few years as Perona recovered from two ACL surgeries. The first injury was when she was a sophomore. The second was as a senior during club season while playing lacrosse at the Brine National Cup in Tampa, Florida, which was broadcast on ESPN. Perona was there with her St. Louis Lou Fusz Athletic teammates and had just played 鈥 and starred in 鈥 the Cup鈥檚 pre-tournament All-Star game.
That injury and surgery that followed meant she鈥檇 miss playing lacrosse her senior spring season at Westminster Academy. She was coming off a standout year as a junior when she earned Academic All-American status for her play on the field and achievements in the classroom.
鈥淚t was definitely frustrating,鈥 she said. 鈥淚t was unexpected, and it brought a lot of anxiety and impatience. It was a really hard thing to go through the first time, but I've already come back one time 鈥 I know I'm going to do it again.鈥
Perona scored nine goals in a game 鈥 twice 鈥 her junior season, helping her get noticed by several universities, including Rockhurst.
鈥淚 talked to multiple coaches and in the end I was looking at three offers to play lacrosse,鈥 she said. 鈥淚t became clear I was going to choose Rockhurst. I really love Coach McCourt. As soon as I met her, I knew she was the type of coach I wanted to play for.
鈥淥f all the schools I was looking at I felt like Rockhurst had the best academics and would give me the best opportunities.鈥
The decision to pursue cross country in college came around the same time she was narrowing down her college choices. Perona played 10 different sports growing up, but it was letting go of cross country that proved to be too hard.
鈥淚t was September of my senior cross country season, and I just wasn't ready to give it up. I really wanted to keep running so I looked up Rockhurst鈥檚 times and reached out to Coach McCourt and asked if she was okay with me trying to run cross country, too. She was totally fine with it, and so was Coach Strecker. A week later I ended up committing.鈥
While Perona hasn鈥檛 been playing on the field she has been recruiting for the Hawks. Fellow LFA players Meghan Thomas, Abby Gerstner, and Kyra Blondin will be on campus with her in Kansas City this fall.
Perona has been going through physical therapy and can run cross country for Rockhurst in the fall semester. She is cleared to start practicing lacrosse again in December, just ahead of next spring鈥檚 season.