Amelia Gregory will represent Moss Farms Diving in this week's Moose Moss Invitational at the Moose Moss Aquatic Center.

MOULTRIE – Moss Farms Diving coach Tom Gimm took 10 Diving Tigers to compete in the Orlando All-Star Invitational on Feb. 2-4 to let them get their first taste this year of USA Diving format competition.

But this year’s season really begins for many aspiring young divers with the annual Moose Moss Invitational, which will begin at 3 p.m. Thursday and continue through Sunday at the Moose Moss Aquatic Center.

This year’s meet will feature at least 110 divers, primarily from the Southeast.

Among those taking part in the 1-meter and 3-meter springboards and platform events are 30 athletes representing Moss Farms Diving.

Their performances in the Moose Moss Invitational and  in the Carolina Big Dive, scheduled for March 13-17 in Huntersville, N.C., will help the athletes prepare for USA Diving Regional competition to be held the first week in May.

Moss Farms divers are expected to compete in the Region 3 Championships that will be held May 3-5 at the Gabrielsen Natatorium at the University of Georgia in Athens.

Those who qualify in Athens will advance the Zone B Championships that will be held June 7-9 in Moultrie.

Some 200 divers are expected to compete in the Zone meet at the Moose Moss Aquatic Center.

USA Diving’s Junior National Championships will be held July 29-Aug. 7 in Morgantown, W.Va.

One Diving Tiger expected to make her way through to another appearance at Junior Nationals is ElliReese Niday, who has already won seven national championships.

Last July, she swept the 1-meter, 3-meter and platform championships at the Junior Nationals held in Mission Viejo, California.

That sweep marked the second year in a row she had won on all three boards at Junior Nationals. She also swept in Midland, Texas, in 2022.

In 2021, as a 9-year-old, she won the 11-and-under platform event in Indianapolis.

Last year she also swept all three boards at Regional and Zone championships.

Also last year, in August, she competed in the Pan Am Junior Diving Championships  in Lima, Peru, and earned gold medals on all three boards.

And in December, she competed in the senior women’s 1-meter and 3-meter springboard events as the youngest contestant in USA Diving’s Winter Nationals.

“She’s been diving well,” Gimm said of Niday, whose age group is 12-13, but who will “dive up” at 16-18 this week.

“She doesn’t back down. She loves competing and she loves this sport a lot.”

Joining Niday in representing Moss Farms this week are William Bius, Christopher Griffin, John Parker Harrison, Elizabeth Hobby, Luke Hutto, Nevaeh Morrell, Richard Murphy, Charles Stevens, Austin Taylor, Landon Thomas;

Natalie Tyson, William Tyson, Steele Weeks, Summer Winchester, Alexandra Brown, Elijah Brown, Kendall Deloach, Ruby DeMott, Amelia Gregory, Beck Gregory, Tuck Gregory;

Jewel Hart, Selah Huante, Sofiya Karaliova, Ansley Lane Zechariah Lidl, Ruth Anne McCranie, Maggie Strange and Judson Taylor.