Moss Farms divers
prepare for 2025 season
Published 11:24 am Wednesday, March 5, 2025
Beck Gregory competed in the 16-18 boys 1-meter, 3-meter and platform events and teamed with brother Trip in the men's synchro 3-meter event at the Moose Moss Invitational. (Photo by Gale Couch)
Zechariah Ledl had strong performances in the 3-meter springboard and platform events in the 16-18 boys age group at the Moose Moss Invitational. (Photo by Gale Couch)
Elizabeth Ann Hobby competed on both springboards and on platform in the 16-18 girls age group in the Moose Moss Invitational. (Photo by Gale Couch)
Nora Kate Taylor competed in the Future Champions division at the recent Moose Moss Invitational. (Photo by Gale Couch)
MOULTRIE – With USA Diving’s junior diving season set to begin in eight weeks, Moss Farms athletes got a competitive head start in the annual Moose Moss Invitational.
The event drew 59 divers – including 24 representing Moss Farms – to the Moose Moss Aquatic Center from Feb. 27-March 2.
Also in the field were athletes representing Tomahawk Diving, Carolina Diving, the Baylor Dive Club and the Atlanta Diving Association.
The invitational signals the start of the competition season, which will open for the Diving Tigers with the Region 3 Championships to be held April 26-27 in Tallahassee.
Divers will compete there for berths in the Zone B championships, which will be held June 5-8 at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
Junior Nationals will be held July 25-Aug. 3 in Mission Viejo, Calif.
Several Diving Tigers also will be among 190 or so of their fellow competitors to participate on March 7-9 in the Wendy Wyland Memorial Invitational at the Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Complex.
The YMCA Nationals, scheduled for April 10-12, also will help the young divers prepare for Regionals.
Competing last week for the Diving Tigers were William Bius, Whitley Bozeman, Alexandra Brown, Eliza Brazel, Kendall Deloach, Ruby DeMott, Amelia Gregory, Beck Gregory, Trip Gregory, Christopher Griffin, Elizabeth Ann Hobby, Selah Huante, Ansley Lane, Nevaeh Morrell, Richard Murphy, Austin Leigh Taylor, Nora Kate Taylor, Landon Thomas, Summer Winchester, Luke Hutto, Sofiya Karliova, Zechariah Ledl, Maggie Strange and Judson Taylor.
“This meet was all part of preparing for the season,” said Moss Farms board chairman Brad Gregory. “I think as we go on, we will see the degree of difficulty increase.
“But we are really pleased with where we are right now.”
Gregory said a number of the divers posted their personal best scores and there were several who performed dives that earned coveted 7 and 8 scores.
Nine of the Diving Tigers performed in the “future champions” competition aimed at the youngest athletes.
“We are really excited about this group,” Gregory said. “And our next focus will be to continue to beef up our lessons program.
“I am excited about the future of the club.”
The Diving Tigers are under the direction of new head coach Yun Wing Hu, who recently took over from Tom Gimm, who left several months ago to become the head diving coach at Eastern Michigan University.
Wing has been the head coach of the Indonesian and Venezuela national teams and most recently was the head coach of the Forest City Diving Club in London, Ontario, Canada.
He is a seven-time World Cup and World Championships coach and has taken young divers to a number of international competitions, including the Junior Pan American Games and the Junior World Diving Championships.
Wing is assisted by Eugene Karaliou, a former Olympian and multi World Championship and World Cup finalist.
He also has assisted coaching the Junior American champion in 2022 and 2023 and the 2023 Junior Pan American Games champion.
Karaliou joined the program last year.
