By Phillip Whitten
LOUISVILLE, Kentucky, Nov. 17. DR. Jim Miller, a physician from Virginia, was elected president of United States Masters Swimming tonight at the annual USMS convention, being held this year at the Galt House in Louisville, Kentucky. The convention, originally scheduled for Sept. 12-15, was postponed after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon two months ago.
Miller won in a run-off, after none of the three candidates obtained a majority of delegate votes on the first ballot. He succeeds Nancy Ridout of California, and becomes USMS's eighth president.
Miller, who served as USMS Vice President from 1993-97, was chairman of the USMS Sports Medicine Committee and is also one of the physicians who travels with the USA Swimming National Team. He has also been a Masters swimmer and Virginia Masters coach for more than 20 years. In 1986, Miller was the first recipient of the USMS "Coach of the Year" award.
In fact, in an unprecedented result, coaches swept all four of the positions elected this evening.
Scott Rabalais, who served for 17 years as head coach of Crawfish Masters in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was elected Vice President. Rabalais, who is chairman of the USMS Coaching Committee, also served as USMS Editor of SWIM Magazine for two years and has served the last two years as Fitness Editor for the magazine.
Sally Dillon, of the Pacific Northwest region, was elected secretary of the organization, while Doug Church ran unopposed for treasurer. Dillon is a former high school coach in Truckee, Calif., while Church is a part-time Masters coach in Noblesville, Indiana.
The newly elected officers will serve a term of two years.