Wayne Grandy
MOULTRIE — Kelsey Goodman made official visits to some of the top diving programs in the country: Miami, Indiana, Georgia, South Carolina and Texas.
But when she took an unofficial visit to Florida State, the Moss Farms and Colquitt County High diver found just what she was looking for.
“I went there and fell in love with it,” Goodman said Monday after signing her letter of intent at the Colquitt County High library. “It’s got everything going for it.
“It just felt right.”
Goodman, who is the daughter of Moss Farms Diving Coach Ed Goodman, is one of the nation’s top junior divers.
This summer, she competed in the Junior National Diving Championships and reached the finals on both the 1-meter and 3-meter springboards.
She also competed in the senior National Diving Championships held in Tallahassee at the Florida State University pool she will soon call home.
Goodman began diving at 6 years old.
“And the first four years she didn’t even know she was diving,” Ed Goodman said. “She thought she was playing.”
She has since developed to an excellent springboard diver who will work on her tower list at Florida State.
Ed Goodman and wife Mary Pat are obviously pleased that their daughter will be diving close enough that they will be able to watch her compete at home meets.
And both Ed and Kelsey have long known Florida State coach Patrick Jeffrey.
A three-time NCAA champion at Ohio State and two-time Olympian, Jeffrey has been at Florida State for 10 years and has brought record-breaking success to the school’s diving program.
Among the outstanding Florida State divers Jeffrey has coached is Terry Horner, th 2007 1-meter national champion.
And Seminole divers have captured 16 of 30 ACC championships during his tenure.
And Jeffrey is familiar with the Goodmans, having brought his Florida State teams to the Moss Farms facility to train for several years.
“He’s a great coach and he’s got a great team,” Ed Goodman said.
Kelsey said she will concentrate on senior events next spring and summer and will work to perfect her bigger dives.
She also will try for a third Georgia High School Association Class AAAAA championship in February.
Kelsey won the state championship and set the state record with a 534.35 as a freshman in 2007 and repeated as a sophomore in 2008.
But last February, she was unable to compete when an ear infection perforated her ear drum, costing her a shot a state championship three-peat.
Four of her former Moss Farms teammates are currently diving at the college level: Ryan Helms at Tennessee, Anna Aguero at Auburn and Hannah Moore and Owen Blank at the University of Georgia.
