Owen athlete takes speed and toughness to Montreat College track and wrestling programs
Neveah Perkins pursues two-sport collegiate career in the Swannanoa Valley
Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
April 25, 2024
Owen senior Nevaeh Perkins signs a letter of intent to join the Montreat College track and wrestling programs in an April 19 ceremony. Photo by Fred McCormick
Throughout her high school athletic career, Neveah Perkins has never backed down from a challenge. The Owen senior ‘s willingness to embrace difficult endeavors propelled her to school records on the track and considerable success on the wrestling mat.
That tenacity and determination will be indispensable when she continues her two-sport career in the Swannanoa Valley, following an April 19 signing ceremony in which Perkins committed to the Montreat College track and wrestling programs.
Dozens of family members, teammates and coaches celebrated the milestone with Perkins, who began running track at Owen Middle and joined the Warlassies track and field team as a freshman. While competing in the sport at the collegiate level was an early goal, she had never considered wrestling.
“I was really committed to running when I came to high school,” she said. “I always thought of it as something I wanted to keep doing one day when I went to college.”
As a freshman, Perkins established herself as one of the top sprinters in the Western Highlands Conference Championship meet, placing in the top three in each of the four events in which she competed. She went on to medal in each event she entered in the conference championship as a sophomore and junior.
Perkins, who finished 13th in the state and fourth in the region in the 400 meter race as a junior, established an Owen record in the 800 meter, March 30, with a time of 2:22.05 in the UNC Asheville High School Classic. She joined the cross country team as a junior and led the program to a Western Highlands Conference Championship last October.
While running became a three-season sport for Perkins, she was intrigued when approached by the Warhorse wrestling program in 2022.
“Out of the blue, one of the coaches asked me how much I weighed,” she said. “Both of my brothers are on the team, so when he asked me I kind of laughed. My parents weren’t really for it at first, since I was going to be wrestling on the male varsity team, but once they thought about how my brothers enjoyed doing it, they were fine.”
Surrounded by track, cross country and wrestling teammates, April 19, Neveah Perkins (front, center) commits to the wrestling and track programs at Montreat College. Photo by Fred McCormick
Perkins suited up for the Warhorses that winter, and her toughness was immediately apparent to her teammates, according to coach David Avila.
“From the time she started it was clear she had a lot of grit, and and she kept coming back for more,” Avila said. “The guys knew she was for real, and she just continued building her technique and confidence from there.”
Perkins wrestled in the women’s division as a senior, compiling a 34-5 record and qualifying for the state championship meet.
“I was her coach on the women’s team this year, and seeing her start to put everything together the way she did was a lot of fun to watch,” Avila said. “She’ll be starting over, to a certain degree, at Montreat, but she has a lot of potential in the sport.”
Kate Dost, who coached Perkins for two years on the Warlassies cross country team, attributes the athlete’s success to her willingness to face adversity.
“She’s so tough, but she also has an amazing attitude,” Dost said. “Because of that, it really seems like she can do anything she wants to do. She’s a true competitor, so it didn’t surprise me when she chose to wrestle.”
A determination to constantly improve has been driving Perkins as an athlete since middle school, according to Wendy Lewkowicz, who coached the runner at Owen Middle and against the high school.
“She knew she was an athlete early on, and she was willing to be pushed and do anything she needed to do to get better,” Lewkowicz said. “She’s never been scared of anything and that’s really been kind of a theme throughout her athletic career.”
As Perkins closes out her final track season at Owen, she is eager to major in exercise science at Montreat College.
“Montreat is getting a student and athlete who is moldable,” Lewkowicz said of Perkins. “She is always willing to work to get better, and definitely not afraid of success.”