MOULTRIE — USA Diving nominated Moss Farms Diving coach John Fox for United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee’s 2021 Developmental Coach of the Year.

According to the USOPC, each governing body nominates one individual in the Coach of the Year category for its respective sport.

Although Fox did not win the overall award among all sports, a release from USOPC states that “your nomination serves as a testament to your dedication to Team USA ideals and recognizes your excellence in coaching.”

According to the USOPC, the Coach of the Year program seeks “to elevate the status of coaching as a profession and to recognize the best coaches and service providers in the United States.”

Fox came to Moultrie in 2015 as an assistant coach and was named Moss Farms Diving’s CFO in 2017.

He is in his fourth year as the club’s head coach.

Among his most recent accomplishments are leading 2021 Moss Farms boys to a junior national championship and helping send Diving Tiger Carson Tyler to the 2021 Olympic Team Trials, where he reached the finals in two events.

And speaking of local divers:

• SMU’s Parker Hardigree recently won his third straight American Athletic Conference championship on the 1-meter spring board.

Hardigree won this year’s title with a career-best score of 367.35.

He also was second on 3-meter in the conference championships.

Hardigree also has a 2019 3-meter conference championship to his credit and has qualified for this year’s NCAA Zone championships on both springboards.

• Auburn sophomore Hunter Kebler finished seventh on platform in the recent SEC swimming and diving championships in Knoxville, scoring a 355.35 and contributing 23 points to the Tigers team score.

• Kelliann Howell, whose final season as a diver at Georgia was cut short by injury, made the SEC Academic Honor Roll all four years she has been in Athens.

Of this and that:

• Colquitt County tight end Landen Thomas has been named to the MaxPreps High School Sophomore All-America first team.

Among the rising junior’s scholarship offers are ones from Georgia, South Carolina, Arkansas, Texas, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Florida, Texas A&M, Auburn, Penn State, N.C. State and Coastal Carolina.

• Offers also are starting to roll in for rising junior receiver Ny Carr. He has them from Michigan, Georgia, South Carolina, Arkansas, Iowa State, Penn State, Coastal Carolina and Georgia Southern.

• Rising senior running back Charlie Pace has received offers from Coastal Carolina, Georgia State and Georgia Southern.

• Safety Kamal Bonner, also a rising senior, has offers from Buffalo, Colorado and Austin Peay.

• Hunter Strickland, who was a senior safety on last year’s 8-3 Packers football team, has an offer from Trinity International University.

• Freshman Abby Plymel is hitting .300 for the ABAC women’s softball team.

She has four doubles, a triple and two home runs for the Fillies.

• Henry Daniels is hitting .333 with four doubles, a triple, three home runs and nine runs batted in for the ABAC baseball team, which is off to a 5-7 start.

Jeb Johnson has made four appearances in relief for the Stallions.

• J.T. Whatley and Gavin Steptoe are contributing to the Andrew College baseball team’s 8-5 start.

# Two former Lady Packers playing college basketball are Za’Nautica Downs, averaging 6.0 points for the 19-7 Troy University women’s team, and Diamond Hall, averaging 6.7 points for Alcorn State.