For Santee’s Jennifer Perez, cross-country is a welcome distraction during troubling times

On a sweltering afternoon this week in Woodland Hills, the melting pot of what makes living in Southern California so unique was on full display.

Diverse teenagers of all shapes, sizes and nationalities were running the hills at Pierce College, refusing to let the heat or the challenge of running three miles deter them from reaching the finish line in the City Section cross-country prelims.

One boy collapsed as he crossed the line but recovered after drinking a bottle of water. One girl fell to the ground and vomited. Another boy was walking awkwardly near the end of his race, delirious to his surroundings. The participants were giving it their all.

There was no slowing Jennifer Perez of Santee High, her black hair tied in a ponytail bobbing up and down.

A senior with a 4.0 grade-point average, she is captain of a team that could win the City Section Division II girls championship.

She also is an undocumented immigrant, having moved here from Mexico when she was 8.

Perez visited Washington, D.C., last summer to participate in a culinary arts competition and recalled being in awe seeing the Lincoln Memorial and the White House.

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City Section runners don’t give up

On the night before the City prelims, she watched the election returns on TV until going to bed at 9 p.m., not knowing who would be elected president.

She woke around midnight and found out Donald Trump had won.

“It was shocking,” she said.

The fears and uncertainties about the future for undocumented immigrants living in California made it tough for her to go back to sleep.

During his campaign, Trump promised to deport the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants who reside in the United States. He also is unlikely to support an executive order by President Barack Obama that would have granted undocumented immigrants temporary reprieves from removal.

“I’m pretty sure there are a lot of students like me,” she said.

An estimated 30% to 40% of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s 643,400-plus students are children of mixed-status families, according to CARECEN, a Los Angeles-based advocacy organization for Central American and other immigrants.

Steve Zimmer, the Board of Education president, issued a statement Wednesday, saying, “We know there may be feelings of fear and anxiety, especially within our most vulnerable communities. The District is providing additional supports to those who need it.”

Running can be a soothing cure for many types of anxiety, and sports competition provides a cleansing environment for people who seek diversions from other challenges in their lives.

“It was a big distraction,” Perez said of her participation in high school athletics.

City Section cross-country is one of the last bastions of purity when it comes to participants’ just trying to do their best for teammates and themselves.

There are so many stories of runners being plucked out of physical education class and discovering a love for running and a new group of friends.

“These people become friends for life,” Bravo High Coach Rob Russell said. “It’s so special.”

No one knows what might happen with the politics of immigration, but Perez is grateful for the opportunities she has. She studies hard. She practices hard. She helps others as a tutor.

“I’m proud to be here,” she said.