Announcing the Minnesota Masters Hall of Fame Class of 2024: Tom Emison, Marty Moran and Sarah Hromada
Tom Emison participated as a MN Master Swimmer for 15+ years. He was a mainstay at local meets representing MN Masters and the Y’s Guys Swimming group. Tom was a huge part of the success of one of the first USMS workout groups, the Y’s Guys. This was a self-coached group of swimmers who met at the Downtown YMCA at lunch time daily. Over his career he has 145+ registered swims and finished in the top 10% of his age group 30 times. Tom was the National Champion at the 2007 SCY nationals meet in the 100 free with an impressive time of 50.22. Another highlight was swimming the 50 free in the lane adjacent to Rowdy Gaines in the 2009 SCY Nationals. Rowdy defeated Tom but needed to set the National record to defeat him.
Tom was an active participant at National meets always sporting his fancy vest full of his colorful swimming patches. He unfortunately had to stop competing due to back issues that have prevented him from competing since 2017 at the young age of 58. He misses the competition and people that will forever be a part of his life but enjoys the ability to walk without pain since he stopped competing. He currently lives in the Brainerd Lakes area with his wife, Pam.
Though Marty Moran no longer competes as a Minnesota Master, if you swam against Marty you would remember him. Marty currently has 195+ registered swims and competed for 11 years as a member of our LMSC. A whopping 23 of his swims were in the top 5% of his age group, which is an amazing accomplishment. He registered 67 times in the top15%, which shows his overall excellence over time. Marty excelled at all strokes, though butterfly was probably his specialty, but his backstroke and freestyle are almost as good. At the 2017 National meet he finished 4th in the 50 Back and 5th in the 100 butterfly. Marty was a major contributor on the St Cloud YMCA team in his days in Minnesota. Marty currently lives in North Carolina and competes for the North Carolina LMSC.
Sarah Hromada is being inducted into the Minnesota Masters Hall of Fame in the contributor category. Sarah served on numerous committees and 2 Ad Hoc Committees on the national level for sixteen years, including volunteering on the Recognition and Awards Committee for nine years. She won the USMS Dorothy Donnelly Service Award in 2001. On the local level, Sarah was instrumental in the running of Minnesota Masters, serving as registrar for over twenty years. She also served as editor of the Sternwheeler and stepped up when there was a need, from running meets to running the LMSC. Minnesota Masters would not be what it is today without the volunteer efforts of Sarah!
