TOWSON, Md. – Sarah Perine was enjoying a graduation ceremony in South Carolina when she first felt it.
 
Perine was frightened. Her heart raced. She felt light-headed.
 
The symptoms didn't subside. Perine didn't even want to go out with her friends.

As a highly-conditioned student-athlete, this wasn't supposed to be happening to Perine, a junior biology major on the Towson University women's golf team who started playing the sport when she was 14 years old.
 
"It was scary," Perine said. "I was scared that I was going to pass out. I didn't want to eat and I became nauseous because of it. I would get really upset. It took a toll on my mental health. What if I couldn't play again? I was scared.
 
"It was just very stressful not knowing what was wrong because the doctors were unsure for so long and didn't know what to do to help so I was worried I would never feel like myself again."
 
For three months this past summer, Perine visited four different doctors and wore a heart monitor.
 
"When I stood and tried to hit golf balls, I knew something was wrong," Perine said. "It's wild because one minute, you're fine and the next minute your heart rate is 170. I've been an athlete my entire life and now I was like, I can't even stand and hit golf balls. I was really scared that I wasn't going to be able to walk 18 holes."
 
Eventually Perine got an answer.
 
"Finding out it would be something I'd grow out of was such a relief," Perine said. "It felt like I had all this weight taken off my shoulders, knowing this wouldn't last forever and it wasn't that big of a deal. We have it figured it out now so that's all good."
 
During team qualifying at practice, Perine relied on a golf cart to get her around the course. However, once the bright lights of the season dawned, not only did Perine easily walk 18 holes, she returned to the golf course with a bang by showcasing the character and resilience of a champion.
 
The positively relentless Perine earned Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Women's Golfer of the Week honors after tying her career low round score of 73, finishing tied for 11th overall individually at the Bucknell Invitational and helping Towson to a third place finish.
 
Towson shot 900 over 54 holes, which was the third lowest score in program history.
 
More importantly, Perine's health wasn't an issue as she walked the grueling 36 holes over 10 hours in her first competition since her scare during the summer. Competing with workmanlike diligence, Perine led the entire field last week at Bucknell with 38 pars. She is also a leader on campus as well as she is a member of the L.E.a.D. Tiger program, which  is designed to identify student-athletes early in their careers who have shown high levels of talent both in the classroom and in competition and build their leadership capacity. As a L.E.a.D. Tiger, student-athletes begin to develop and understand their own personal leadership models.
 
"I've always been very grateful and appreciative of every opportunity I've had in life especially being blessed with the opportunity to be a Division I athlete," Perine said. "But going through this gave me a new different love for golf like I did not completely have before."
 
Perine and the Tigers are back in action this weekend when they compete in the Nittany Lion Invitational. The 54-hole event on the par 72, 6,322 yard Penn State Blue Course begins on Saturday, Sept. 21 with two rounds and concludes on Sunday, Sept. 22 with the final round. In addition to Perine, competing for the Tigers this weekend are Erica Han, Jordan Cornelius, Jayla Kang, Julia Calomiris and Emma Cox.

Participating schools include Akron, Bucknell, Georgetown, High Point, Ohio, Penn State, Rutgers, Seton Hall, Navy, Pennsylvania and Youngstown State.

"Once I walked the first 36 holes, I felt like I had a weight lifted off of my shoulders," Perine said. "It made me so happy. I felt like myself again. Bucknell was a fun weekend and it was great to see everybody do well.

"Since we're so close as a team, we always want to do well for each other. We want to do great things and the positive reinforcement from everybody helped a lot this past weekend."
 
The whole experience left a lasting impression for the caring and compassionate Perine, who credits her strong family support for helping her through her harrowing ordeal.
 
"I want to work in a hospital in the trauma unit as a physicians' assistant," Perine said. "I'll care about every single one of my patients. This experience opened my eyes and made me want to do everything I can for my patients.

"If I am a healthcare provider, I will go out of my way for my patients and always give 100 percent to everybody. This is why I have to be a physicians' assistant."

Tigers in the Community
The Towson University athletics department deems community service as one of its highest priorities to give back to the Greater Baltimore area.
- For the 7th consecutive year, the department exceeded 10,000 hours of community service to the Greater Baltimore region, finishing with 11,162 hours of community service in the 2018-19 academic season.
- Towson ranked #1 nationally for community service and won the 2018 National Championship for Community Service through the Helper Helper NCAA Team Works Competition.
- Towson had a 97% participation rate, attended 118 community service opportunities and volunteered with 19 organizations.
- Towson won the 2018 Volunteer of the Year Award from Susan G. Komen of Maryland.