MOULTRIE – Johanna Holloway and Maggie Merriman, two winners at the AT&T USA Diving National Championships held in Moultrie this past summer, are both now members of the Moss Farms Diving Tigers.

As national champions in 3-meter and platform 16-18 girls events at the Moose Moss Aquatic Center, they took a trip to Kazan, Russia, to compete in the FINA World Junior Championships. This meet began Monday and concludes today (Dec. 4).

Both recently moved to Moultrie, to train with the High Performance Team of the Moss Farms Diving Tigers.

Merriman previously was a member of the YCF Team in Orlando and Holloway was a member of the Fort Lauderdale team

Merriman finished first on platform in the girl’s 16-18 age group, and Holloway finished first on 3-meter board in the girl’s 16-18 competition during the AT&T National Championships.

On Thursday in Kazan, Holloway dove in the Girls Group A 3-meter preliminaries. With seven judges, she accumulated a score of 319 points in nine rounds. Her best score was a 48 in the forward 2 1/2 somersaults.

On Saturday, Merriman competed in the Girls Group A 10-meter platform preliminaries. This consisted of eight rounds, and her final tally was 336.2. She scored 57.6 on the inward 3 1/2 somersaults.

Neither girl made the 12-diver finals.

Holloway and Merriman also dove in the Senior Women’s division of the USA Diving Nationals. They are headed to Columbus, Ohio, in mid-December for the USA Diving Winter Nationals. Columbus is also the site of the USA Diving AT&T National Championships for 2017. This was announced on Tuesday. The Zone B Championships, one of the national qualifiers which was held in College Station, Texas, in 2016, is coming to Moultrie and the Moose Moss Aquatic Center.

Not only did Merriman and Holloway join each other in Russia, they were also at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials, and they took part in synchronized diving. Merriman was in the finals for synchronized women’s platform, and Holloway was in that event plus senior women’s platform.

Both took part in the 2016 USA Synchronized Diving Nationals.

Holloway, in 2015, was a national champion in 14-15 girls 3-meter and 14-18 synchronized platform girls.

Merriman not only has a history of USA Diving national titles, but YMCA national appearances as well. In 2015, she was the YMCA national champion in 14-15 girls 1-meter and platform. That same year and age group, she was the USA Diving platform champion.

In 2013, Merriman claimed the gold for 12-13 girls platform at the YMCA nationals.