Wayne Grandy
May 31, 2007 10:00 pm
—
MOULTRIE — Hannah Moore has been an outstanding and recognizable part of the Moss Farms Diving program for a dozen years, but she is coming down to final few months.
Moore will dive competitively for the final time at Moose Moss Aquatic Center this weekend in the annual Moose Moss Invitational.
But after a summer of competitions that will include an appearance at Senior Nationals at Palo Alto, Calif., she will do most of her training over the next few years in Athens, where she will be a member of the University of Georgia diving team.
And while the Moose Moss Invitational is a small meet and is intended to help divers get ready for bigger competitions coming up, Moore said she wants to be on the top of her game this weekend.
“I want to do really well,” she said, adding that it is going to feel “weird” having to leave the diving well that has been her home-away-from-home since she was 7 years old.
Moore will compete in two events today in the first day of the long-running Moultrie meet.
She and Moss Farms teammate Anna Aguero will take part in the 16-18 girls platform event, which is expected to start at about 11 a.m.
Moore will be one of four Diving Tigers — along with Aguero, Kelsey Goodman and Ali Lepech — in the senior women 3-meter springboard event.
The first day of the Moose Moss Invitational will begin with four events starting at 9 a.m. The Diving Tigers’ Camille Kirkland will be one of five divers competing in the 11-and-under girls 3-meter event.
Tristan Wells will dive in the 11-and-under boys 1-meter event.
Also at 9 a.m., the 10-11 novice girls 3-meter and 10-11 novice boys 1-meter will begin.
At about 10 a.m., the 12-13 girls 3-meter event, which will include Moss Farms’ Elizabeth Ann Kirkland, will begin.
At the same time, the 12-13 boys 1-meter, with Moss Farms’ Tevin Hightower in the field, will be held.
Diving Tiger Owen Blank will dive today in the 16-18 boys platform event.
Ann Perry Blank will dive in the 14-15 girls platform competition.
Today’s schedule of events is expected to be completed by noon.
The meet will continue on Saturday and Sunday, beginning each day at 9 a.m.
Moore also will compete in the 16-18 girls 1-meter and 3-meter events and the senior women’s 1-meter.
After graduating with honors from Colquitt County High last week and taking a month off, Moore is back in the water and trying to polish her dives.
“I’m getting back into the swing of things,” she said, adding that the Moose Moss meet, “will let me see what I need to work on.”
Coach Ed Goodman says he expects her to have an outstanding summer as she takes aim at qualifying for Junior Nationals and making her presence felt again at Senior Nationals.
“Hannah is so consistent all the time,” Goodman said. “I don’t worry about her alot.
“She’s already got a college list of dives.”
Moore has been working on a front 3 1/2 on 3-meter, a dive she said she is not quite ready to use in competition yet.
“It’s pretty hard,” she said. “I’ve done it before. But I think when I get to college and get stronger, it will be easier for me.”
Otherwise, she is trying to continue to do her dives consistently.
Moore began her diving career under coach Wenbo Chen and blossomed under Ron Piemonte, who left Moss Farms to become the head coach at Virginia Tech last year.
It was no secret she and Piemonte had a strong relationship and she considered taking an offer from Virginia Tech before agreeing to go to Georgia.
Moore said she also has continued to become a more accomplished diver under Goodman, who succeeded Piemonte last year.
“I’ve gotten better,” she said. “He just has a different way. But he really, really takes time with you.”
Moore said she is pleased with her diving career, which has included a number of outstanding performances.
She has qualified for the Junior National Diving Championships each of the last eight years and in 2003 qualified for the U.S. team that competed in the Pan Am Games in Brazil.
She is a former state high school champion and last year had one of best meets of her career at the 2006 Senior Diving Championships in Indianapolis, Ind.
After not diving as well as she hoped at Junior Nationals, she remained in Indianapolis for Senior Nationals to compete on the 3-meter board.
With few expectations, she turned in three splendid lists, finishing seventh in the prelims, 11th in the semifinals and then coming in ninth in the finals in an extremely strong field.
The top-12 finish has pre-qualified her for the 2007 Senior Nationals.
The Moose Moss Invitational field includes 14 divers from the Atlanta Diving Association, led by Georgia Tech coach John Ames.
Hannah McElhannon of the Georgia Diving Club will compete in the 16-18 girls age group on both springboards.
Among the unattached divers are two from the University of Florida.
Port City Diving has three of team members competing. Southeast Extreme Diving of Norcross, coached by Herb Cables, has sent three divers, as has Charles River Diving of Waltham, Mass.
Tennessee Diving’s Dave Parrington will have eight of his divers on the boards. The University of Tennessee’s Lauren Leroy also will compete. North Florida Diving is sending seven members of its team.
Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.