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FORT WAYNE - If it is possible for a crowd at a track meet to buzz, Justin Bellamy had the people buzzing.
"That kid went out at 6-10," an onlooker said, shaking his head in disbelief.
Warsaw's Bellamy breezed to a first-place finish in the high jump in Thursday's high school track and field regional at Fort Wayne Wayne High School. Bellamy competed at a different level - he won with a jump of 6 feet, 8 inches, three inches ahead of Concord's Brian Peterson, who took second with 6-5.
Just how easily did Bellamy win? Three inches separated Bellamy from the field. But three inches were all that was needed to separate the second through the eighth places.
"Justin Bellamy, he's just a unique individual," Warsaw coach Troy Akers said. "I'm tickled to death for him."
Bellamy attempted 6-10 but failed to clear the bar.
But Bellamy was not Warsaw's only first-place finish. Greg Seiss, Juan Garcia, Justin Rice and Jon Dock finished first for Warsaw in the 3,200 relay with a time of 7:58.65.
Because the first two events completed just happened to be the high jump and 3,200 relay, Warsaw led the meet with 20 points after two events.
Bellamy and the 3,200 relay team took first in last week's Goshen Sectional.
"To be seeded first on paper is one thing, to go out and get it done is another," Akers said. "It was a heckuva way to start the meet.
"Mentally, we were ready to go."
Fort Wayne Northrop won the meet with 75 points and was followed by Concordia (68), Carroll (66) and South Side (45). While Warsaw finished seventh with 32 points, the Tigers scored more points than any other team coming out of the Goshen Sectional. Elkhart Central, which won the team title at Goshen, placed eighth at Fort Wayne with 30 points. NorthWood, which took second at Goshen, placed 14th with 14 points. Warsaw finished third at Goshen.
The top three in each event automatically advance to next weekend's state finals in Indianapolis. Any athletes who beat a state qualifying time or distance advance as well.
The Tigers will send one other athlete, Greg Seiss, to the state finals. Seiss placed fourth in the 800, but his time of 1:56.22 beat the required state qualifying time of 1:57.35.
After the meet, Bellamy could be found nowhere. That's because he's not here, Akers said.
"His mom said she was gonna buy him the biggest steak in Fort Wayne," Akers said. "I said, 'See you later.'"
The trip to Fort Wayne this year was much more enjoyable for Bellamy than last year.
Bellamy, a junior, has been competing in track and field for just more than a year. As a sophomore last year, he joined the team as a walk-on and competed in only three regular season meets. Still, he advanced to regional, where his season ended when he failed to clear 6-2 after often clearing 6-4 in the few meets he competed in.
"He had been in only three meets and found everything easy," Akers said. "Then he got to this level and got tight.
"He's had so much confidence. The jump he had last week at Goshen was 6-8, and 6-8 is the third-highest jump in the state right now for the whole season. He's bigger, stronger and has more experience now."
Warsaw's 3,200 team beat out Goshen for first place. The Redskins took second with a time of 7:59.12.
One other local athlete will advance to the state finals. NorthWood's Aaron Hoover placed third in the 3,200.
Warsaw's Wesley Rodman placed fourth in the shot put, and the Tigers' 1,600 relay team of Seiss, Juan Garcia, Jose Esquivel and Jon Hill took seventh.
Seventh seemed to be a popular place for local schools. Two Wawasee athletes finished seventh, Rob Chalfant in the 1,600 and Jamie Salazar in the shot put. Three NorthWood athletes finished seventh, Jason Brennaman in the 400, Jonathan Cook in the 300 intermediate hurdles and Corey Brown in the long jump. Also for NorthWood, Matt Traub placed eighth in the pole vault.
Two Fort Wayne Regional records were set. Concordia's Rolando Scott long jumped 24-10 1/2, shattering the previous record of 23-5 1/4. Because this is the first year for the 300 intermediate hurdles, Concord's Daniel Martin set a record with a time of 37.63 seconds.
The state finals begin at 3 p.m. Friday.
"Justin and the 3,200 relay team are gonna do well," Akers said. "You place first in the Fort Wayne Regional in anything, by golly, the chances you are gonna place pretty high at state, if not win it."
FORT WAYNE TRACK AND FIELD REGIONAL
Thursday at Wayne High School
Team scores -Ê1. Fort Wayne Northrop 74, 2. Concordia 68, 3. Carroll 66, 4. Fort Wayne South Side 45, 5. Fort Wayne Wayne 41, 6. Harding 39, 7. Warsaw 32, 8. Elkhart Central 30, 9. East Noble 28, 10. Concord 19, 11. Fort Wayne North Side 16, 12. Leo 16, 13. Goshen 14, 14. NorthWood 13, 15. Fort Wayne Snider 12, 16. Bishop Luers 11, 17. New Haven 10, 18. Bishop Dwenger 10, 19. Norwell 9, 20. Elkhart Memorial 8, 21. Bellmont 8, 22. Westview 8, 23. Garrett 6, 24. Lakeland 5, 25. Fairfield 5, 26. Bluffton 5, 27. West Noble 5, 28. Heritage 5, 29. Wawasee 4, 30. Homestead 4, 31. DeKalb 3, 32. Eastside 3, 33. Prairie Heights 1.
Individual results (State qualifying times in parentheses)
The top three in each event automatically advance to the state finals, as do those who meet state qualifying times
*records set
3,200 relay (8:04.00) -Ê1. Warsaw (Greg Seiss, Juan Garcia, Justin Rice, Jon Dock) 7:58.65, 2. Goshen 7:59.12, 3. FW Northrop 8:04.34, 4. FW South Side 8:06.84, 5. Carroll 8:09.35, 6. Elkhart Memorial 8:10.96, 7. FW North Side 8:11.80, 8. Bluffton 8:13.12
110 high hurdles (:14.95) - 1. David Williams Jr. (Wayne) :14.48, 2. Matt Harris (FW Snider) :14.51, 3. Caran Chapman (FW North Side) :14.59, 4. Markiss Dowdell (Harding) :14.63, 5. Roderick Harris (Wayne) :14.69, 6. Nick Sullivan (Leo) :14.83, 7. Michael Miller (Lakeland) :15.09, 8. Frederick Van Dorp (FW South Side) :15.10
100 (:11.14) -Ê1. Contrell Ash (Harding) :10.79, 2. Rolando Scott (Concordia) :10.92, 3. Claude Hall (Carroll) :11.09, 4. Gustin Smith (Concordia) :11.14, 5. Brandon Wilson (Elkhart Central) :11.17, 6. Kevin Morrow (Bishop Luers) :11.19, 7. Tedric Harwell (Elkhart Central) :11.22, 8. Dante Ross (Wayne) :11.27
1,600 (4:23.48) -Ê1. Brett Tipton (FW Northrop) 4:16.79, 2. Phil Yoder (East Noble) 4:18.24, 3. Nate Peffley (FW Northrop) 4:18.78, 4. Andrew McKalips (Goshen) 4:20.45, 5. Jacob Wolfe (Fairfield) 4:29.26, 6. Ryan Johnson (DeKalb) 4:32.81, 7. Rob Chalfant (Wawasee) 4:32.84, 8. Mike Seevers (Prairie Heights) 4:35.66
400 relay (:43.08) - 1. Concordia (Kamal Macon, Terron Wharton, Gustin Smith, Rolando Scott) :42.09, 2. Harding :42.14, 3. Wayne :42.81, 4. Fort Wayne Northrop :42.91, 5. Carroll :43.36, 6. Bishop Luers :43.43, 7. Fort Wayne South Side :43.47, 8. Concord :43.76
400 (:49.46) - 1. Brad Bolyard (Leo) :49.72, 2. Curtis Bynum (FW South Side) :49.73, 3. Cedric Jackson (FW South Side) :49.93, 4. Brandon Robinson (Heritage) :50.74, 5. Nathan Banks (Elkhart Central) :50.85, 6. Ken Meteiver (Elkhart Memorial) :50.89, 7. Jason Brennamen (NorthWood) :51.72, 8. Nathan Yoder (Lakeland) :51.95
300 intermediate hurdles (:37.63) -Ê1. Daniel Martin (Concord) :37.63*, 2. Chris Tredway (Carroll) :39.25, 3. Charles Shuff (Garrett) :39.95, 4. Roderick Harris (Wayne) :40.03, 5. Kamal Macon (Concordia) :40.27, 6. Chris Welch (Carroll) :40.30, 7. Jonathan Cook (NorthWood) :40.62, 8. Robert Hardy (FW South Side) :40.91
800 - (1:57.35) 1. Brett Tipton (FW Northrop) 1:54.70, 2. Grady Shannon (FW South Side) 1:55.73, 3. John Amt (Concordia) 1:55.92, 4. Greg Seiss (Warsaw) 1:56.22, 5. Nate Peffley (FW Northrop) 1:56.42, 6. Ryan Heath (Leo) 1:57.12, 7. Justin West (Carroll) 1:58.70, 8. Noel Ermis (Elkhart Central) 2:00.05
200 (:21.94) -Ê1. Contrell Ash (Harding) :21.94, 2. Tedric Harwell (Elkhart Central) :22.31, 3. Rolando Scott (Concordia) :22.45, 4. Kevin Morrow (Bishop Luers) :22.58, 5. Michael Culver (FW South Side) :22.66, 6. Mike Pratt (FW Northrop) :22.86, 7. Travis Brownlow (Bellmont) :23.06, 8. Gustin Smith (Concordia) :23.18
3,200 (9:33.13) -Ê1. Phil Yoder (East Noble) 9:31.64, 2. Michael Watts (Westview) 9:31.65, 3. Aaron Hoover (NorthWood) 9:35.61, 4. John Parson (West Noble) 9:38.04, 5. Bret Grover (Bluffton) 9:38.64, 6. Scott Borchelt (Concordia) 9:39.29, 7. Scott Hardway (FW Northrop) 9:40.76, 8. Thomas Wolfe (Fairfield) 9:41.55
1,600 relay (3:24.22) - 1. FW South Side (Curtis Bynum, Shannon Grady, Robert Hardy, Cedric Jackson) 3:17.74, 2. Elkhart Central 3:21.87, 3. FW Northrop 3:22.18, 4. Carroll 3:23.05, 5. Wayne 3:24.32, 6. Concordia 3:26.67, 7. Warsaw (Jon Hill, Jose Esquivel, Greg Seiss, Juan Garcia) 3:27.26, 8. Goshen 3:27.92
high jump (6-5) - 1. Justin Bellamy (Warsaw) 6-8, 2. Brian Peterson (Concord) 6-5, 3. Andy Heath (Concordia) 6-5, 4. Craig Lenwell (Norwell) 6-5, 5. Ryan Slagel (FW Snider) 6-4, 6. (Tie) Nathan Yoder (Lakeland), Joseph Adkins (Elkhart Memorial), Marcus Alexander (Harding) 6-2
long jump (21-6) - 1. Rolando Scott (Concordia) 24-10 1/2*, 2. Caran Chapman (FW North Side) 23-5, 3. Dante Ross (Wayne) 22-8, 4. David Brinkley (Wayne) 22-4, 5. Sean Casey (Harding) 21-11 1/2, 6. Alex Villavicencio (Carroll) 21-11 1/2, 7. Corey Brown (NorthWood) 21-5, 8. Demetrius Files (Concordia) 21-4 1/2
shot put (54-3) -Ê1. Bob Tucker (FW Northrop) 57-5 1/2, 2. Scott Starost (Carroll) 54-8 1/2, 3. Klint Kammerer (East Noble) 51-1 1/2, 4. Wesley Rodman (Warsaw) 50-10 3/4, 5. Tom Stirlen (FW Northrop) 50-4 1/2, 6. Keith Cole (Eastside) 49-7, 7. Jamie Salazar (Wawasee) 49-5, 8. Jared Feichter (Carroll) 48-11
discus (161-6) - 1. Brian Comito (New Haven) 163-11, 2. Scott Starost (Carroll) 160-4, 3. Bob Tucker (FW Northrop) 156-11, 4. Matt Stebing (Concordia) 153-1, 5. Stephen Brown (East Noble) 152-6, 6. Lyle Kuhlmichel (Elkhart Central) 151-5, 7. Kyle Farling (Norwell) 145-8, 8. Dylan McKean (Bellmont) 142-3
pole vault (N/A) -Ê1. Andy Schipper (Bishop Dwenger) 15-6, 2. Paul Gensic (Carroll) 15-6, 3. Dustin Runkle (Carroll) 15-6, 4. Mark Murphy (Bellmont) 15-3, 5. Josh Murphy (Homestead) 14-9, 6. Justin Voohies (FW Northrop) 14-6, 7. Brandon Daugherty (Norwell) 14-6, 8. Matt Traub (NorthWood) 14-3
