MOULTRIE — Moss Farms Diving coach Ron Piemonte contends that while the talk among young divers and their coaches most of the summer is on the Junior Nationals, the East and West Championships should have at least as much importance.

Divers must finish in the top 12 against some of the country’s top young divers at the Championships to qualify for Nationals.

With as many as 40 divers competing in each event, as many as 28 will not advance.

“If you don’t make it through this meet, you don’t get to Nationals,” Piemonte said.

“This is the big one.”

The West Championships will be held in Pasadena, Calif., this year.

The East Championships begin today at the Moose Moss Aquatic Center.

More than 250 young divers will be in Moultrie for the East Championships four-day run that will end on Sunday. At stake are places in the 2006 Junior National Diving Championships, which will be held July 26-30 in Indianapolis, Ind.

Divers qualified for the East Championship at Regional competitions last month.

Moss Farms will enter 15 of its divers in the meet.

Hannah Moore, Staci Howard, Anna Aguero will compete on the 1-meter and 3-meter boards and on the platform in the girls 16-18 competition. Maddie Qurnell will compete on 3-meter.

In 16-18 boys, Ryan Helms and Owen Blank will compete on all three boards and Jacob Russell will dive 3-meter.

In girls 14-15, Ali Lepech, Kelsey Goodman and Ann Perry Blank will compete on all three boards and Jillian Braun will dive platform.

In 14-15 boys, Dean Benton will dive on all three events and Henry Norman will compete on 1-meter.

In 13-and-under, Tevin Hightower will dive 1-meter and 3-meter and Elizabeth Ann Kirkland will dive 1-meter.

Ronnie Piemonte qualified for the East Championships, but will not be able to take part.

Ron Piemonte, who is leading the Moss Farms divers contingent for the final time before taking over as the head coach at Virginia Tech, said his charges appear to be prepared.

“I think they are all diving pretty well,” Ron Piemonte said. “They’ll be able to sleep in their own beds and be on boards they dive on all the time. That’s always good. We’ll just have to take it a day at a time.”

The competition, especially in the 16-18 boys and girls and 14-15 boys and girls, is expected to be especially strong.

“I expect the difference between 10th place and 15th place to be about five points,” Piemonte said. “It’s going to come down to who can squeak out those five points.

“We’ve got kids who are experienced. I just hope they are mentally prepared. This is a meet in which 12th place is just as good as first place. They just need to hit their spots.”

Helms, Owen Blank, Benton, Russell, Ann Perry Blank, Howard, Moore, Lepech and Aguero qualified for the East Championships in Rockville, Md., last year.

Aguero, Ann Perry Blank, Lepech, Helms and Owen Blank all qualified for Nationals in 2005 on all three boards. Moore qualified on 3-meter and platform.

Goodman qualified for Nationals at the East Championships while a member of the Islamorada (Fla.) Diving team.

Competition will begin at 9 a.m. today with the 14-15 girls 1-meter event and the 14-15 boys 3-meter event.

Goodman, Lepech and Ann Perry Blank will be in the girls event. Benton and Hightower will be diving at the other end of the pool on the 3-meter board.

The 13-and-under boys platform event will be held from 1-2:30 p.m. today.

The final events of the day will be the 16-18 girls 1-meter and the 16-18 boys 3-meter. They are scheduled to run from 3:30-6:50 p.m.

Friday’s schedule includes 13-and-under girls platform from 9-10:30 a.m.; 16-18 girls 3-meter and 16-18 boys 1-meter from 11:30 a.m.-2:50 p.m.; and 14-15 boys platform, 3:50-5:10 p.m.

On Saturday, the 13-and-under girls 3-meter and 13-and-under girls 1-meter events will begin the day’s schedule at 9 a.m.

From 12:20-2 p.m. will be the16-18 girls platform. And from 3-6 p.m. will be the 14-15 girls 3-meter and 14-15 girls 1-meter.

The championships will conclude on Sunday with the 14-15 girls platform from 9-10:30 a.m.; the 13-and-under girls 1-meter and 13-and-under boys 3-meter from 11:30 a.m.-1:50 p.m.; and the 16-18 boys platform from 2:50-4:50 p.m.

The meet has drawn some 260 divers from 55 teams representing 20 states to Moultrie.