{"id":35188,"date":"2026-03-05T17:27:57","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T22:27:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/?p=35188"},"modified":"2026-03-05T17:27:59","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T22:27:59","slug":"state-champs-visit-planned-whitacre-praised","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/05\/state-champs-visit-planned-whitacre-praised\/","title":{"rendered":"State champs visit planned; Whitacre praised"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By BOB SHRALUKA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

WZBD.com<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s not a reception at the White House, but Bellmont’s champs will be coming to City Hall to be recognized for a massive achievement!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Decatur Mayor Dan Rickord said at Tuesday’s city council meeting that plans are in the works to bring the school’s state championship basketball team before council for more recognition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI’m working with (head coach) Andy Heim to bring the team to the next council meeting (Tuesday, March 17) to be recognized,\u201d the mayor told council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI’ve never seen a harder-working team than these girls,\u201d he added. \u201cThey really play great defense.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was the defense which Heim credited for a 55-46 victory over Indianapolis Roncalli last Saturday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianpolis, clinching Bellmont’s first state crown in girls basketball.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Making it a clean sweep, senior Bri Converset was named the winner of the prestigious Patricia L. Roy Mental Attitude Award.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ADD LOGAN: Mayor Rickord also noted the efforts of Bellmont junior Logan Whitacre, who finished 12th<\/sup> in the IHSAA State Diving Finals Saturday at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whitacre placed 12th<\/sup> \u201cand that’s outstanding,\u201d the mayor exclaimed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat’s the highest ever for a Bellmont diver \u2013 a great accomplishment.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a great weekend for Bellmont athletics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whitacre had earlier pulled off a surprising fourth-place finish at the Regional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLogan\u2019s fourth-place finish at the regional level was a fantastic achievement,\u201d his coach, Drew Norby said at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat exceeded even our own high expectations. While we were confident he would qualify for state in the sixth or maybe seventh position, seeing him climb to fourth was a well-deserved reward for his dedication.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whitacre captured his third NE8 title earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLogan\u2019s success is no accident; it is the result of a grueling schedule,\u201d says Norby. \u201cNearly every week, he commits to six days of practice, often pulling double duty. He joins the team for morning swim sets \u2013 where he remains one of our top performers \u2013 before returning in the evening to perfect his craft on the diving boards.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By BOB SHRALUKA WZBD.com It’s not a reception at the White House, but Bellmont’s champs will be coming<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35189,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[13,14,15,21],"class_list":["post-35188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-bellmont","tag-decatur","tag-featured","tag-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Net-cut-state-champs.jpg?fit=575%2C468&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35188"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35190,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35188\/revisions\/35190"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}