Divers heading to Regionals
Published 10:09 pm Wednesday, June 20, 2007
MOULTRIE — Twelve Moss Farms divers are heading to regional competitions this weekend, taking aim at a spot in the Summer East Junior Championships.
Five Diving Tigers will fly to the Northeast for the Region 1 Championships, which will be held Friday through Sunday at the New Canaan (Conn.) YMCA.
Those heading to Connecticut are Ann Perry Blank, Owen Blank, Jacob Russell, Anna Aguero and Ali Lepech.
The group will be accompanied by Moss Farms assistant coach Aaron D’Addario.
Moss Farms head coach Ed Goodman will take seven divers to the Region 3 Championships, which will be held Saturday and Sunday at the Blatt Physical Education Center in Columbia, S.C.
Going to South Carolina are Kelsey Goodman, Erin Goodman, Ryan Helms, Henry Norman, Jillian Braun, Hannah Moore and Elizabeth Ann Kirkland.
The top eight finishers in each event in each Regional championship will qualify for the East Junior Championships, which will be held July 12-15 at the Montgomery Aquatic Center in Montgomery, Md.
“I think everybody should make it,” Ed Goodman said.
Those who qualify for the East Championships will be vying for a spot in this year’s Junior National Diving Championships, which will be held Aug. 7-11 in Mission Viejo, Calif.
Moore, the team’s only senior diver, will be taking a shot at her final East Championships and Junior Nationals.
Before heading to South Carolina this week, she has been in Athens, where she is going through orientation at the University of Georgia, where she will dive next season.
Helms will be taking part in just his second competition since February surgery on his wrist.
He also took part in the Moose Moss Invitational earlier this month.
“Ryan’s diving real well,” Goodman said. “He’ll be fine. He’s ripping it. He’ll have no trouble going to Nationals in his age group.
“He has all his dives, plus he’s added a new dive.”
Helms, Lepech, Aguero, Owen Blank and Kelsey Goodman will go to Coral Springs, Fla., on July 21-22 for a Zone meet to try to qualify for Senior Nationals.
Moore, who finished ninth on the 3-meter board at Senior Nationals last year, is pre-qualified.