Rosary sophomore Lianna Surtz makes history with state title

As an incoming freshman last year, Lianna Surtz more than lived up to her considerable advanced billing.

By the time the Batavia resident completed her first cross country and track and field seasons at Rosary in the spring, Surtz had secured the second Class 2A 1,600-meter state championship in school history in May. It augmented a runner-up showing at the girls cross country state finals the previous fall.

Surtz has made even more impressive strides as a sophomore.

Her seventh cross country invitational victory this fall happened to unfold at the Class 1A state finals at Detweiller Park in Peoria the second weekend in November. Surtz came home first on the 3-mile layout in 16 minutes, 41.01 seconds.

For her accomplishments, Surtz has been named the Kane County Chronicle Girls Cross Country Athlete of the Year.

Surtz became the first cross country state champion in Rosary program history with her 17-plus-second triumph over Staunton junior Lydia Roller earlier this month.

In her bid to qualify for the national championship in Portland next month for a second consecutive year, Surtz fell ever so short last weekend at the Midwest Regional with a 12th-place showing in Terra Haute, Indiana.

“For my state race, my first goal, of course, was to win and then go for time,” Surtz said. “I was hoping to be closer to the 1A record, which is around 16:21. But I’m still happy with my performance.”

Surtz was a force from her opening race of the season, defending her Aurora City Meet championship with a comfortable victory over Waubonsie Valley’s Ashley Heidenrich.

“[Surtz] is a great competitor and super talented,” said Heidenrich, a Waubonsie Valley senior who emerged from relative obscurity to place 12th overall at the Class 3A state meet. “She already has done some great things for her age. I think she has a great future in front of her.”

With the IHSA relaxing its private-school multiplier this fall for programs lacking historic success at the state level, Rosary was reclassified to the smallest division.

Surtz proved her mettle against elite competition in all three classes this fall.

After wins at the Artman Invitational, the Royal Cadet Classic at Marmion and the championship flight at Wheaton North, Surtz lost only to Glenbard West four-time Class 3A state champion Katelynne Hart – at Peoria Notre Dame and the Naperville Twilight Classic – and Latin Class 2A all-stater Ava Parekh.

Surtz was Illinois’ top athlete at the Roy Griak Invitational at the University of Minnesota with her third-place finish.

“I got a chance to be in a lot of bigger races this year,” Surtz said. “I’m thankful for my coach [Vic Meade] and athletic director [John Rutter] for allowing me to compete at Roy Griak and Naperville Twilight [as an at-large competitor].”

“Those [two meets] were really great experiences that helped me to prepare for the [rest of the] season,” Surtz said.

“They wouldn’t let me go [to Minnesota] because I can’t go that far north without going fishing,” Meade joked at the time.

Before sweeping the two state preliminaries at Seneca and Oregon, Surtz eased to the Metro Suburban Blue title to anchor the Royals’ league championship.

Rosary won the Seneca Regional, had its entire seven-member team qualify for Detweiller Park with a third-place showing at the Oregon Sectional and placed ninth overall in Peoria.

“I’m very proud of my team,” Surtz said.

Surtz earned the honor over Batavia’s Katrina Schlenker, who was third in Class 3A, and Rachel Richtman, the first girl in Kaneland history to earn four state medals in the sport.