MOULTRIE – The youngest competitor at the recent USA Diving Winter Nationals was just 12 years old.
She is from Moultrie and she was not the least bit intimidated.
Seven-time Junior National champion and veteran international competitor ElliReese Niday took a fifth-place finish in the Senior Women platform event in a field that primarily included college divers.
And she was not the only Moultrie diver to excel in the Winter Nationals, held Dec. 11-15, in Bloomington, Ind.
Carson Tyler, who represented the U.S. in last summer’s Olympic Games in Paris, earned Winter Nationals silver and bronze medals in the springboard events.
Moss Farms diver Jewel Hart teamed up with Quintilia Fidanza of Piscataway, N.J.’s Knight Diving Academy to place second in the synchro platform event.
Ruth Anne McCranie, former Moss Farms Diving Tiger now competing for coach David Boudia at Purdue University, took part in the 1-meter springboard event.
Moss Farms diver Tuck Gregory competed in the Winter Nationals qualifier, but did not make the meet.
A member of USA Diving’s Junior High Performance Squad, Niday was 10th in the preliminary round, but finished strong to score a 526.55.
Daryn Wright of Purdue was first with a 655.65.
Although she swept all three boards at the 2022 and 2023 Junior Nationals, Niday was unable to participate last year in Morgantown, W.Va., because of an injury.
Tyler took the silver medal in the Senior Men 3-meter event, scoring a 766.95.
He finished behind Stanford’s Jack Ryan, who was first with an 852.40.
In the 1-meter event, Tyler, now a senior at Indiana University, was third with a 716.20.
Ryan also finished first on 1-meter.
Tyler is finishing an outstanding 2024.
He became the first diver in 24 years to qualify for the Olympics on both springboard and platform and then narrowly missed out on a bronze medal on the 3-meter board.
He also was the 2024 NCAA champion on both 3-meter and platform; was the silver medalist on 10-meter in the Canada Cup; and earned the bronze medal on 10-meter in the American Cup.