MOULTRIE — Colquitt County’s Ryan Helms, who won his third straight state high school diving championship in February, has been selected as the Region 1-AAAAA co-Athlete of the Year.

Helms, who is a junior, shares the award with Tift County High senior Israel Troupe, a first-team All-Region 1-AAAAA selection in both football and baseball.

Troupe has signed to play football at the University of Georgia next fall.

Troupe also was the region’s Athlete of the Year in 2006.

Tift County’s Morgan Jones also was a repeat selection as the region’s Female Athlete of the Year.

Jones won the all around title at the state gymnastics meet for the second year in a row and won five individual titles.

The selections are made by the sportswriters who cover Region 1-AAAAA.

In winning his third straight title at the state swimming and diving meet at the Westminster Schools in Atlanta, Helms shattered the previous state record.

He scored a 615.00, breaking the record of 557.20, held by Wesleyan’s Webb Worthington.

Helms scored over 600 points in two other high school meets this year. He won the 37th Metro Atlanta Swimming and Diving Championships, also held at the Westminster Schools, with a pool record 611.60.

He also scored 610.40 at the Clarke-Oconee Invitational in Athens.

Helms won the state championship as a freshman in 2005 with a 472.60.

As a sophomore, he raised his score to 518.70.

Helms now is setting his sights on four straight championships.

The other four-time champions are Moultrie High’s David Howard (1976-1979), Colquitt County’s Brad Baell (1985-1988), Coquitt County’s Adam Terrell (1990-1993) and Worthington, who won the Class AAAA championships 2002-2005.