E.A. Sports Today

Bearcats run for teammate

Serious accident early in the day knocks Weaver’s Bellar from competition, forces Bearcats to shuffle relay lineup

By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today

CULLMAN – Brannon Bellar is back home in Weaver today with one heck of a headache after a scary accident Saturday morning that knocked the senior out of the competition and impact the Bearcats’ relay teams.

Bellar was struck in the head by a shot put during some apparent outside horseplay in the athletes compound before the start of the day’s running events.

Players pass the time between events in the compound playing cornhole, throwing around footballs and Frisbees or just resting under their team tents.

According to witnesses, a male player from Winterboro was throwing a girls shot in the compound when the four-pound lead ball struck Bellar while he was throwing a football.

Weaver coach Marcus Herbert was on the field watching the high jump when he got a phone call alerting him to the situation. At first he thought his athletes were pranking him, but the severity soon became apparent.

Bellar was rushed to a local hospital where he received 12 staples to close the wound. A CAT scan was clear, but he had a concussion. He was released alert and responsive and immediately went home with his parents while Herbert rejoined the rest of the Bearcats at the meet in mid-afternoon.

“It really sucks,” Herbert said. “He’s a senior and has worked all these years and has a chance to medal and this happens. He’s fine now, very lucky that nothing else happened.”

Bellar medaled in the boys 3A 400 Friday, finishing third. He also ran in the 200. On Saturday he was scheduled to run the lead leg in the 4×100 and the anchor leg of the 4×400, so his absence forced the Bearcats to scramble. Shamar Spinks took his spot in the 4×100 and Maurice Goodman in the 4×400.

The 4×400 finished 17th and the 4×100 finished sixth. They had the fastest 4×400 time in 3A boys during the season (3:34.91) and had the third-fastest qualifying time in the 4×100.

The Weaver athletes appeared visibly shaken by the incident, particularly Giovanni Mosley, and it may have affected his performance. In addition to his anchor leg in the 4×100, he finished fifth in all three of his individual events Saturday – the 110 hurdles and 100 that immediately followed the relay and the long jump later in the day.

“I was kind of mad at what happened to him because the dude wasn’t supposed to be throwing it around anyways,” Mosley said. “In my head I was kind of thinking about him the whole time, so I wasn’t really focused on running, but then I was focused on running for him. We really needed him and we could’ve won if we had him.”

As a team, the Bearcats finished 10th in the championship.

“I thought in their events they had a lot of composure; they did their best,” Herbert said. “We’ve got some pretty gifted kids. I applaud their effort. Win or lose, I’m happy with their effort.”

Earlier this year East Alabama Sports Today reported on Bellar’s plans with two of his Weaver wrestling teammates to report to Marine Corps boot camp in June. It wasn’t immediately known if Saturday’s accident would impact those plans.

On the cover: Weaver’s Giovanni Mosley (second from right) pushes to the finish in the 4×100 relay Saturday.

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