Heart on Her Sleeve: Perry Yun

Beanie Pechefsky ‘26

Photo by Luca Mesiti ‘27

On Oct. 26, the Sarah Lawrence College women’s cross country team made history when they won the program at their first Skyline Conference championship. It was a sunny day at Purchase College. The team did their usual routine of listening to old Taylor Swift songs to warm up. Then, they lined up, ready to clinch the conference title. Senior Caitie Mccabe ‘26 won her second consecutive all-conference award. Sophomore Whitney Hall ‘28, earned a spot on the all-conference second team. There were a lot of components that led to this year’s successes: great coaching, camaraderie and hard work, but also newcomers, including the rookie senior Perry Yun ‘26. She won Skyline rookie of the week and Skyline runner of the week during the season. She played a crucial role in guiding the team to the conference win. 

Yun has been playing women's basketball for the past three years of her collegiate career and never considered doing cross country until this summer. “I had no idea what to expect. I hadn’t run cross country before. It was something that I decided to do because I started really enjoying it after basketball season.” After taking many long runs over the summer between her junior and senior year, she plucked up the courage to email cross country head coach Tom Diliberto to ask him about joining the team. 

Little did Yun know, she would become another integral piece to their success. She found yet another supportive community in the cross country team, ready to celebrate each other’s successes and lift each other's spirits. She often led the Gryphons through their races, making record times and solidifying her cross country stardom. For example, at the St. Joseph’s invitational, she surpassed all of the Skyline runners, coming in at third place. 

“There was never a point [during the season] where I didn’t want to be doing cross country.” Yun attributes this feeling, in part, to the coaching of the team. Diliberto was awarded Skyline coach of the year after the clinch. Yun speaks of the supportive environment he fosters: “I put a lot of pressure on myself. To have a coach that wasn’t adding to that pressure and was just there to support me and make sure that I was actually enjoying myself was really great.”

Photo by Luca Mesiti ‘27

The rookie runner speaks affectionately of her grandparents and her family as well. “They were at the Skyline to cheer me on. They flew out, so I was really happy that they got to see that. I was glad that I got to share that with them.” Having this support system has helped Yun greatly throughout her athletic career. “The reason why I haven’t quit or stopped is because my mom and dad have always been very encouraging. I always call my dad. He gives me really good advice when I feel discouraged or frustrated.” Yun went on to explain that her parents encouraged her to be involved in many sports as a child, such as gymnastics, soccer, swimming, volleyball, track and field, tai kwon do, dance and so on.

Even before her two collegiate careers, Yun was a born athlete. Her main sport in high school was lacrosse. She was disappointed to find that Sarah Lawrence doesn’t have a team, even though nearly every other school in the conference does. She remembers her days playing lacrosse fondly and frequents the Lacrosse Unlimited, a store in Bronxville. “My coach was very similar to Tom in the way that he just didn’t put a bunch of pressure on us. We always had a lot of fun at practice. It didn’t feel high stakes, even if it was.” 

All of these sporting ventures led her to be the person she is today: an emblem of athleticism and hard work. Yun wears her heart on her sleeve in her sports and in her everyday life. She aspires to go into the medical field, with a particular focus on social justice in medicine. “I feel like the doctor’s office is a very scary place for a lot of people. I think it’s really important that people feel like they’re being heard and understood and taken care of by their doctors.” 

Yun’s work ethic is evident in everything she pursues. “With basketball, it’s something I have to work a lot harder at to see improvement. Which I think is why I enjoy it, because it has been such a labor of love to get to the point that I’m at.”

Part of the beauty of Sarah Lawrence College athletics is that it gives athletes the opportunity to pursue various sports. The athletics department often encounters the issue of not having enough people on a roster to fill a team. Sometimes, this means that athletes from other teams end up playing various sports. While this can present issues, it also means that the department is open to trying new things. For many students like Yun, it allows them to find communities that they might not be able to find at a different college. “I’ve been a walk-on for every single college sport that I’ve done. That comes down to the wonderful opportunity that I’ve been able to have to do all of these different sports.”

Yun giving her basketball teammate Kaila Dorch ‘26 a hug after the Skyline win. Photo by Luca Mesiti ‘27.

Yun’s stick-to-it attitude with basketball, while it is not her main sport, is a testament to her drive and love for the game. Her former lacrosse career and her newfound success in cross country are testaments to her multi-faceted athleticism. Perry Yun is living proof that it’s never too late to pursue something new, or even to thrive at it.