Volunteer Profile: Susan Ehringer S usan Ehringer is a Hoosier through and through, but she fits in well in the state she swims in several times a week after commuting from her home in Indiana to Louisville, Ky. She’s part owner of the Thoroughbred racehorse Dial Me and collects Kentucky Derby glasses and Pegasus Pins, although she doesn’t like bourbon or mint juleps. Ehringer has also fit in well as a volun- teer for U.S. Masters Swimming. She’s the chair of the Registration Committee and a member of both the Elections Committee and the USMS Swimming Saves Lives Foundation board. The Swim Kentucky Masters member is also the Kentucky LMSC registrar and has served on many national-level committees. Her tireless efforts led to her receiving the Ted Haartz USMS Staff Appreciation Award in 2018. SWIMMER: When and why did you become a USMS volunteer? Susan Ehringer: [Swim Kentucky Masters] Coach Tom Mester talked me into going to my first LMSC meeting with him. Two years later, I attended my first annual meeting in Orlando in 2003. At the time, I was helping the registrar, Joanne Tingley, in Kentucky. We were figuring out things we could do to be more efficient, using email and reports. Joanne asked me to help with convention check-in, which was really cool. I started meeting other Masters swimmers. My first committee was Communications. PR was one of my majors in college. Soon Meg Smath asked me to help edit the rule book … which I did for about seven years. I’ve served on a few committees, including Communications, Open Water, Long Dis- tance, Legislation, Registration, Elections, Rules, and USMS Swimming Saves Lives Foundation, which has special meaning since my mom never learned how to swim. I also have a co-work- er who can’t swim and is planning to take an ALTS class. S: What’s your favorite event/stroke? SE: If it’s a choice, I’ll swim backstroke even when it’s freestyle. Anything backstroke. And I love to do open water swimming. I’ve swum one 10K and a couple of 5Ks. S: What got you into Masters swimming? SE: Like many college swimmers, I sat out for about 10 years be- fore joining Masters. I had sore shoulders, and I was tired of swim- ming 10,000 to 12,000 yards a day, which is what I thought Masters would be. I had no idea it was more like 3,000 yards a practice and no one yelling at you. Masters is a totally different mindset. My husband and I would work out together. We would run to- gether, and I would complain and gripe so much. We were moving back to Louisville and he said, “You’re going to start swimming again.” I started on my own, going about once a week. I saw an ad in a fitness magazine about Masters Swimming. I knew one of the teams and the pool where they practiced. They gave me the prac- tice times and I showed up and that was it.—KRISTINA HENRY Ed Colley DREAM IN COLOR Your scoreboard makes a huge impact on how your fans and athletes will remember the meet. We cannot wait to work with you on turning your vision into a dream facility. Our experienced consultants will listen to your vision and put a plan into action to bring it to fruition. Colorado Time Systems provides platinum quality timing, scoring, and display systems to facilities, like yours, across the world. Visit our website today and view our installation gallery for inspiration. For more information on our complete line of video displays, scoreboards, and timing solutions call us at 800.279.0111 or +1 970.667.1000. © 2019, Colorado Time Systems 47 ju l y- au gu st 20 19