MOULTRIE – It was quite a week in Indianapolis for Moss Farms Diving.

Not only did three Diving Tigers compete in U.S. Olympic Team Trials, all three reached the finals in at least one event.

And the youngest, Carson Tyler, who turned 17 during what Moss Farms Diving coach John Fox calls “the Super Bowl” of diving, proved that he is likely to make several more trips to the Trials.

None of the three made the team that will represent the U.S. in the Olympics in Tokyo next month.

But they gave an indication that one day there could be an Olympian from the southwest Georgia program that started in rural Doerun in 1964.

Chase Lane, who lived in Tallahassee when he trained at Moss Farms before heading off to an outstanding career at Kentucky, qualified for the Olympic Trials on the platform.

His performance in the Trials was his swan song.

He has graduated from Kentucky, Fox said, and will return to Tallahassee to work on becoming a physical therapist.

“He has really had a special career,” Fox said.

Maggie Merriman still has another year at Purdue. Like Lane, she qualified for the Olympic Trials on platform and reached the finals.

“Reaching the finals at the Olympic Trials is a pretty big deal,” Fox said.

Doing it as a junior diver is even more special.

Tyler is the only one of the 95 divers who competed in Olympic Trials to qualify on all three events: 3-meter springboard, platform and 3-meter synchronized diving.

He reached the finals in synchro and on platform, but did not advance on 3-meter.

Tyler and Maxwell Miller of The Woodlands Diving Academy in Texas finished third in the synchro event.

“They really showed out,” Fox said. “They did a good job. That was a good experience for them.”

On platform, Tyler reached the finals and finished 10th in perhaps the most grueling event.

“It is so scary, so hard,” Fox said of platform diving. “A lot of guys just don’t want to do it.

“But he had a solid performance. He did some really good things.”

The top two finishers in the platform finals will go to Tokyo.

Recent Purdue graduate Brandon Loschiavo, who is 24, finished first.

Jordan Windle, 22, won the 2019 NCAA championship while diving for the University of Texas.

Windle was second to Loschiavo in the NCAA Championships this year.

It is not out of the question to envision Tyler making similar accomplishments.

“He is really well-rounded,” Fox said. “Not many people can do what he did. He made it through the rounds and made the finals. The biggest takeaway for him is that he learned what this environment is going to be. This just paved the way.

“He has set himself up for future Olympic Games. The future is so bright for him. I can see him making the Paris team in 2024.”

USA Diving’s Zone B Championships will be held June 24-27 at the Moose Moss Aquatics Center, but Fox said he will hold Tyler out of the meet.

Tyler is prequalified for the Junior Nationals, which will be held July 28-Aug. 3, back at the Indiana University Natatorium.

“It was a long week for him,” Fox said of Tyler. “His body needs a little rest.”

Following Junior Nationals, Tyler will begin his college career at Indiana for coach Drew Johansen, who saw three of his divers make this year’s U.S. Olympic Team.

After seeing Tyler perform at the Olympic Trials, there are several other coaches “kicking themselves for not recruiting him or not being able to sign him,” Fox said.

The Moss Farms program is in a good position, said Fox, who came to Moultrie in December 2015 as an assistant coach for the Diving Tigers and took over as the head coach in 2019.

There could be as many as 11 Moss Farms divers competing collegiately next season and the group of younger divers is extremely promising.

Fox expects the next seven years – heading to the 2024 Olympics in Paris and the 2028 Games in Los Angeles – to be strong ones for Moss Farms.

He said he believes there will be more Diving Tigers in the Olympic Trials and, more importantly,

“I think we can have people on the Olympic Team from Moss Farms Diving.”