MOULTRIE — With new coaches in the high school’s football, boys basketball, boys soccer and softball programs and a golf professional making a homecoming of sorts at Sunset Country Club, 2005 was a year of transition in Colquitt County sports.

It also was a year of considerable success by a number of athletes, including Tennessee Lauryn McCalley, who was named the NCAA’s Woman of the Year, and Shane Slater, who won a gold medal in the Special Olympics World Games in Nagano, Japan. Pavo’s Cleve Dean won several international arm wrestling championships, also in Japan.

Tim Cokely succeeded Mike Singletary as the head coach of the Packers football team and managed a 6-6 record while winning the program’s first postseason game since 1999.

The number of victories was the same as those posted by Singletary the two previous seasons, and Cokely, who came to Moultrie from North Florida Christian in Tallahassee, Fla., must build again in 2006 after four of his assistants resigned after the season.

Singletary, who had been the Packers head coach for five seasons, took the job of building the football program and athletic department at Sonoraville, a new school in Gordon County, but resigned in December.

Former Dougherty High and Albany State standout and Westover assistant coach Kirven Davis was named to take over the Packers basketball program after Keith Hall resigned to concentrate on his new position as head of the guidance department. The Packers are off to a 6-3 start and will take a two-game winning streak into Tuesday’s game at Thomas County Central that opens the 2006 portion of the schedule.

Meeting with similar success is new wrestling coach Randall Balch, who took over the program when Scott Chafin moved to Worth County. Balch also will take over the boys soccer team, which was one of the best in Region 1-AAAAA under coach Jeff Morris, who resigned early in 2005 to take a position at a private school in North Carolina.

The impact Carman Phillips had on the softball program was immediate, leading the Lady Packers to the state playoffs for the first time since the school began playing fast-pitch in 2001.

In tennis, separate coaches were named for the boys and girls teams for the first time in 2005 and Linda Berl led the Lady Packers to the state final four.

And with the resignation of Singletary and the naming of Cokely as director of football operations, the school system has turned to Darius Dawson as the school’s athletic director. A former outstanding linebacker at Colquitt County and Georgia Southern, the popular Dawson returned to Moultrie in 1997 and has served as an assistant coach and assistant athletic director.

At Sunset County Club, the membership appears delighted with the return of Bob Windom to replace Kerry Smith as golf professional. A former Georgia Amateur champion, Windom was an outstanding player at Colquitt County High and Columbus State and had been the golf pro at Circlestone in Adel for a number of years.

While McCalley was unable to compete at the University of Tennessee in her final year of eligibility, she still received two outstanding awards. Not long after receiving the Southeastern Conference’s Scholar-Athlete Award and the $10,000 scholarship that goes with it, she was named as the NCAA’s 2005 Woman of the Year, honoring her athletic, academic and extracurricular successes.

A number of county athletes competed at international competitions in 2005, including a group of divers who went north of the border to Canada to test their skills against other top age-group competitors from around the world.

Hartsfield’s Emma Simpson continues to prove that she is one of best women in the world with a shotgun and as a member of the National Team competed in South Korea, Italy and Puerto Rico in 2005.

Cleve Dean went to Tokyo for the World Armsport Federation world championships and won six titles. He now has more than 100 championships in his career.

Shane Slater and Darryl Burks learned to ice skate on inline roller skates and became so proficient that they represented the United States at the Special Olympics World Games in February in Nagano, Japan. And Slater won Colquitt County’s first gold medal when he finished first in the 500 meters.

Also in 2005:

Colquitt County High freshman Ryan Helms won the boys Class AAAAA state diving championship. Hannah Moore was second.

John Michael Hall, Ashley Stafford and Jessica Lemus were named All-Region 1-AAAAA in basketball. Hall is now playing at Abraham Baldwin College.

Diver Anna Aguero was named the 18-and-under female Club Athlete of the Year by the Georgia Intersport Network. …The Colquitt County girls basketball team won its first postseason game in a number of years when it scored five points in the final 55 seconds to beat Camden County.

The field at Mack Tharpe Stadium was named in honor of longtime popular assistant coach Tom White. … Sunset Country Club’s Pot o’ Gold Pro-Am celebrated it 50th anniversary and was won by the Valdosta Country Club foursome led by professional Rob Williams.

Former Lady Packer Ashley Jacobs had a fine sophomore season for the Abraham Baldwin College girls tennis team. … Alan Brightwell won $4,446 by finishing first in a Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League event.

Former Lady Packer Britney Wetherington concluded her fine collegiate basketball career at Berry College by averaging 12.9 points and 6.3 rebounds in 2005 and was named All-Conference and was an All-America scholar-athlete.

Darrell Davis won the Pure Stock points championship at South Georgia Motorsports Park. … Jack Croyle won his first professional golf tournament, shooting a 272 to take the Hooter’s Tour event in April at the Cherokee Valley Golf Club in Tigerville, S.C.

In May, the Colquitt County High track team won the Region 1-AAAAA meet for perhaps the first time ever. The Packers were led by Jamal Hayes, who spent the summer competing in meets throughout the country. The highly recruited sprinter was a member of the national championship 4×400 team.

Ty Megahee finished his collegiate baseball career at Mercer and will stay on as a graduate assistant. … Golfer Jason Flowers, playing for national champion Darton College, was named a NJCAA All-American. … Ducks Unlimited awarded Sherrod McCall Sr. and Sherrod McCall Jr. lifetime memberships. … Helms, Moore, Owen Blank and Jacob Russell were named high school All-American divers.

In June, Mike Simpson and his South Georgia Youth Shooting Club opened an Olympic-style facility in Hartsfield. The young program, endorsed by Olympic shotgun coach Lloyd Woodhouse, has some 30 members. … Nic Price and Hannah Moore were named Georgia’s Junior Male and Female Divers of the Year.

Both the Moultrie YMCA’s championship and developmental gymnastics teams finished in the top five at YMCA Nationals in Wisconsin, leading coach Bob Swadel to call the performance one of the best ever by one of his teams. … Helms took the gold medal on the 1-meter board in the 14-15 boys age group at the Summer East Nationals Championships. … Brothers Kevin and Andy Blanton teamed up to win the 51st Ramsey Pidcock Invitational at Sunset County Club. … Bill Ethridge won three gold medal at the Veterans Wheelchair Games in Minneapolis. … Colquitt County High pitcher Blake Williams signed to play at Thomas College.

The annual Minor League Baseball Reunion featured former Milwaukee Braves pitcher Taylor Phillips as its speaker. … Moss Farms’ Ron Piemonte was named the U.S. Diving Age Group Coach of the Year. … Grady Clements won the Sunset County Club championship. Janet Hendrick won the women’s title. … Eight Packers – Orion Ponder, Josh Brown, Tyler Brooks, Javaris Jackson, Vance Cuff, Channing Hudson, Dontrell Johnson and Matt DeMott – were named to the All-Region 1-AAAAA football team. Ponder and Johnson received honorable mention on the All-State team.

Tennis player Lonnie White and his partner Milton Meyer of Atlanta are listed as No. 1 in Georgia, No. 1 in the South and No. 9 in the nation in men’s 40 doubles … Senior snapper Brian Jordan helped lead the University of Georgia football team to the SEC championship and a berth in Monday’s Sugar Bowl.

C.A. Sanders and Sherard Reynolds both started for the Valdosta State football team and Reynolds, a true freshman, led the team in receiving yardage with 650 and in touchdown catches with seven.

Colby Simpson finished his soccer career at Georgia Southwestern by being named NAIA honorable mention All-Region. Austen DeMott also plays at Georgia Southwestern.

Former Region 1-AAAAA Player of the Year Aaron Eubanks has transferred from Clemson and will play at Georgia Southern in 2006. Will Southwell also is expected to some playing time for the Eagles this season. … Thomas Tripp made contributions to the Valdosta State baseball team as a true freshman in 2005, and former Packer and South Georgia Tiger Adam Anderson will be his teammate this season.

Jake Mobley continues to play well in the infield at Georgia Southwestern. Brian Knighton led Fort Valley State in rushing and was named to the conference’s All-Academic team.

The Colquitt County High air rifle team — made up of Vickie Dampier, Yohann Brinson, Jessica Corona and Shontae Robinson —took first place in the prestigious Gary Anderson Invitational, a top competition held at Fort Benning that drew 22 teams from around the Southeast.

The Colquitt County Sports Hall of Fame’s 2005 inductees included Marty Hammock, Tony Mock, Herring Cole, Donna Goodson Cothern, Sallie Humphreys, Chick Croft, Mac Faircloth, Sweet Lamar, Sherrod McCall Sr., Eddie Moncrief, Mary Jo Fincher Plowden, J.Hinton Reeves, Elijah “Tunk” Richardson, Garland Whiddon Rowland, Ronnie Schreiber, Vanessa Taylor and Adam Terrell.

The Moultrie YMCA presented its John Mobley Character Award to Kaitlyn Price; its Program Service Award to Wendy Scites; and its Distinguished Leadership Award to Darrell Moore.