2 Trojans trekking to state

Two Southwest High School runners have advanced to the Class 2 State Track and Field Championships, scheduled for Friday and Saturday.

At the Class 2, Sectional 3 meet in Blue Eye on Saturday, senior Robert Humphries finished fourth in the mile and 2-mile at Sectional 3 at Blue Eye High School. Humphries ran a 4:39 in the mile and 10:23 in the 3200 meters.

“He is both talented and intelligent,” said Steve Voyak, Southwest coach. “He exerted just enough energy in the mile so he was able to get through in the second event. It will be interesting at state with his two races on separate days. I think he’s capable of low 4:30s in the mile and close to 10 in the two-mile.”

Humphries runs the 2-mile at 5:10 p.m on Friday and the mile at 12:40 p.m. on Saturday at Jefferson City High School.

Freshman Bryar Llewellyn placed fourth in the 800-meter run in a time of 2:08.09. Llewellyn, an All-State recipient in cross country, was the lone freshman at the sectional and will be the only freshman in the 16-runner field at state. Only two sophomores advanced in the race, so 13 runners are upperclassmen.

“It’s an amazing achievement for any freshman to advance to Jeff City,” Voyak said. “I think Bryar has another gear. I think he can go sub 2:05. He just needs to avoid getting boxed in with so many runners in such a short race.”

Llewellyn runs at 2:45 p.m. Saturday. The top 8 finishers in each event achieve All-State status. Humphries earned All-State in 2022 as a sophomore as part of the 4×800 relay team that finished fourth in Class 2.