By Michael Newman

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When we look back at this class of freshmen from the 2018 season, we may consider this group as one of the best ever to come out of this state. One of the runners that stepped up to the front in races was Lianna Surtz of Rosary.

We had a sense that Surtz would have a special year starting at the end of July. The freshman ran 17:18 at Detweiller to finish fourth in that race. A month later at the Yorkville Invitational, she was ahead of Yorkville all-state runner Emily Eberhart at 2-miles before Eberhart had to drop out. Surtz set a course record of 17:15 for the win. You seldom see times under 18 minutes on Yorkville’s Hoover Forest Preserve course. Surtz smashed that record.

She won eight of nine races before the state meet with a sixth-place finish at the Richard Spring Invitational her only “setback”. She ran 17:02 in that race where four runners were under 17-minutes.

Surtz was fearless at state leading most of the 2A race only to be passed by eventual state champion Brooke Stromsland in the final stretch. Surtz’s time of 16:35 tied for the fourth freshman time ever at the state meet and tied for the 28^th fastest time ever at state. 

She had a great post-season finishing sixth at the NXR Midwest Regional and qualifying for the Nike Cross Nationals. Surtz finished 24^th in that national race. She was the second fastest freshman in that race.

Five other freshmen finished with all-state honors. We also need to acknowledge Ava Parekh of Latin School (4^th), Elizabeth Sims of Mahomet-Seymour (8^th), Kaylie Politza of Lemont (12^th), Amanda O’Donnell of Chicago University (16^th), and Emma Skinner of Morton (20^th). We will be hearing a lot from these runners in the next three years.

Congratulations to Lianna Surtz of Rosary High School in Aurora as the 2018 ILXCTF.com 2A Girls XC Newcomer of the Year.

Photo Credit – ©2018 Laura Duffy