ATLANTA – If there is an honor given for top preliminary/quarterfinal heat of the day, Nolan Lewis of the Moss Farms Diving Tigers was a big part of it Monday. At the USA Diving Junior Nationals hosted by Georgia Tech, Lewis was the winner of the 14-15 1-meter quarterfinal by being the best of three divers to score higher than 350.

Lewis’ final tally after nine dives was 357.4. His average per dives (there were nine rounds) was 39.71. As stated, two other divers in this group received scores above 350, and their averages were 39.24 and 39.12.

That performance is a pass for Lewis into the semifinal round, which will take place Friday (as will the finals for 14-15 boys 1-meter).

“I think he surprised himself,” said coach John Fox. “(Coach Chris Heaton) and I knew he was that caliber a diver. We told him if you do what you know how to do, you will do well. It’s fun to see him come into his own.”

In the first two days of USA Diving Junior Nationals, three of the Diving Tigers in all made their way to semifinal events with top six showings in the preliminaries.

Monday’s other Moss Farms representative to make the semis is Ruth Anne McCranie. In Girls 12-13 platform, she scored 228 for third place. This was a six-dive event, and her best was a 50.4 in back 2 1/2 somersault tuck (2.8 degree of difficulty).

It was her last dive, Fox said, that got her third.

Girls 12-13 platform semifinals and finals are set for Thursday. McCranie is already a semifinalist for 3-meter, which takes place Wednesday.

Timothy Fagan, on Sunday, did some of his best diving yet for Moss Farms in the 14-15 boys platform. He placed third in the quarterfinal with a score of 330.1.

There were eight dives for Fagan, and he won two of the rounds. One of those came in the final round, where he did an inward 2 1/2 somersault tuck (2.7 DD) for a 51.3.

Fagan’s other top dive was the inward 1 1/2 somersault pike (2.1 DD) scoring 45.15.

His semifinal in platform is Thursday.

Fox said this is another Tiger who is coming into his own, and that Nationals could be a major change in the course of Fagan’s career.

On Sunday Jet Geovanni dove in the 12-13 platform preliminary. He placed ninth overall at 220.25, 0.1 points out of eight place.

Abigale White has dove in two preliminaries already in Atlanta. She scored 261.85 in 14-15 girls 1-meter Sunday and 285.25 in the 3-meter Monday.