Szafruga may have to find some time to keep running

Pawel Szafruga is a fascinating study. The Pullman High student has so many irons in the fire that distance running has always taken a back seat.

But his second-place State 2A cross country finish last weekend may cause him to rethink his future.

“It’s weird. People ask me if I’m going to run in college,” said Szafruga. “I have some pretty ambitious majors which are going to be kind of hard to pair up with running, but I’m definitely looking into it.”

Szafruga is a classical pianist who plans to double major in piano performance and mathematics. He said he will audition for colleges this winter.

“That’s basically what’s going to take over my life now,” said Szafruga, already a Running Start student at Washington State University.

Szafruga was born in Poland and came at age 6 to Pullman, where his father earned his PhD in mechanical engineering and mother is a nurse.

Besides music and math, he was a competitive mountain biker and part-time runner who, said cross country coach Matt Silvers, quit track midway through his freshman season and didn’t return until last year.

“He did more biking than running and would miss meets,” Silvers said.

He had placed 118th and 85th in his first two state cross country meets with marginal 18:53 and 18:26 times.

“He never pushed himself hard until last year,” said Silvers. “He had potential at a young age but focused in other areas. He was more of a sleeper and came out of nowhere.”

Last year the transformation began with a 13th-place finish at state and an improvement in time of 1:22.

Training with two-event state champion Phil Hinrichs, Szafruga finished fifth in the State 2A 3,200 in track.

“Phil was a total inspiration,” said Szafruga. “The guy was just an awesome runner.”

This year, Szafruga has separated himself from the Great Northern League distance field, but last weekend’s second-place state finish, lopping another 41 seconds off his previous best, stunned even him.

“I never expected to be here,” Szafruga said after his 16:23 time left him just 7 seconds away from a title.