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Boys Cross Country MVP: Ryan Pajak, Ringgold

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For Ryan Pajak, the plan worked.

Instead of putting up with the stress the final few regular-season meets would produce, the junior from Ringgold High School took the last week off from competition.

That meant sitting out the Washington County Coaches Meet, held at his home course at Mingo Park, and the Tri-State Meet, held at California University, site of Thursday’s WPIAL Championships.

Pajak led from start to finish over the hilly 3.1-mile course and pocketed his second straight gold medal in Class 2A with a time of 15:43.9.

The time off from competition, which lasted about 10 days, allowed him to run stress-free miles in workouts, which amounted to 50 or 60 miles per week.

“Winning it two times means a lot to me,” said Pajak. “The course was much better than last year when it was pretty muddy.”

Last year, Pajak became the first Ringgold runner since Melvin Boyd did it in 1973 to win a WPIAL Cross Country title. This year, Pajak is the first runner in school history to win back-to-back cross country titles.

Pajak took second place in the PIAA Class 2A Boys Cross Country championships in Hershey. Pajak turned in a time of 16:10.7 over the 3.1-mile course.

Honorees Tim Danzinger, junior, South Fayette Roman Galioto, senior, South Fayette Alaa-Eddine Guetari, junior, South Fayette Luke Henderson, senior, Belle Vernon Brett Kroboth, senior, Peters Township Evan Sarkett, senior, Upper St. Clair Sawyer Weinmann, junior, Upper St. Clair {related_content_uuid}0562f7a7-939d-44b0-b360-45ea9244f9c0{/related_content_uuid}

Tim Danzinger, junior, South Fayette

Roman Galioto, senior, South Fayette

Alaa-Eddine Guetari, junior, South Fayette

Luke Henderson, senior, Belle Vernon

Brett Kroboth, senior, Peters Township

Evan Sarkett, senior, Upper St. Clair

Sawyer Weinmann, junior, Upper St. Clair

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