ONE WORD: 'DISAPPOINTING'

Easily the biggest story in the swimming world this year has been
Michael Phelps.

First, he won an unprecedented eight gold medals at the Beijing
Olympics. The 23-year-old rose to greatness while breaking the
single-Games record for gold medals, receiving intense admiration
from virtually the entire country.

Among those fans were young swimmers in Grand Forks, who, when a
picture of Phelps inhaling from a marijuana pipe appeared in the
news, were more than a little disappointed with their supposed-to-be
role model.

"I'm disappointed," said Tyler Folkedahl, an eighth-grader on the
KnightRider team. "I was kind of shocked at first. I really didn't
think it would be something he would do."

Teammate Isaac Loegering, also an eighth-grader, said, "I hope he
straightens out. I still consider him a role model for swimming but
less so now."

Grand Forks coach Brent Newman said he has talked with his team about
staying away from negative influences since the first day of practice.

"They know it's not right," Newman said. "It's really tough when you
have an elite athlete like that get caught; not just get caught, but
just doing it."

USA Swimming suspended Phelps for three months. He also lost some of
his sponsors, including cereal maker Kellogg Company, which said it
will not renew its sponsorship contract with the swimmer.

The picture first appeared in a British newspaper in January. Phelps
has since issued an apology, saying he "clearly made a mistake." He
also called the three-month suspension "fair."

"I think it was pretty fair," Folkedahl said. "He needs to know he
can't go out and do drugs. He has a sport he has to stay true to."

The general consensus among the KnightRiders was that Phelps needed
to be punished for what he did, but they also are hopeful that he
will bounce back from the controversy.

"I think one thing you can say is he is taking responsibility for
it," Newman said. "At the same time, he shouldn't have put himself in
that position.

"I'm worried about the 18 guys on my team and just keeping them away
from those influences. He'll do fine (bouncing back). Across
professional sports . . . people have very short memories. There are
worse things that have been done by better people."

Said Folkedahl: "I think he's going to take it as a learning
experience. He'll probably keep getting better and that's what I'm hoping for."

But the disappointment lingers.

"I know one girl. . . . he was like her idol. She's really
disappointed," Folkedahl said. "Viewing him as an idol has changed a
lot. He doesn't really have a perfect record anymore."

GF Places Seventh

Folkedahl and the rest of the KnightRiders took seventh place with
164 points at the nine-team invitational Saturday at UND. Mandan won
the meet with 366 points, followed by Minot with 356 1/2.

Ethan Nimens led the KnightRiders with his second-place finish in the
100-yard butterfly in 58.19 seconds and a fourth-place finish in the
200 individual medley in 2:08.80.

Grand Forks' Alex Dorner placed fourth in diving. Loegering finished
fifth in the 100 butterfly and ninth in the 200 IM, Mike Kocsis took
seventh in the 100 freestyle and Folkedahl placed ninth with a
personal-best time in the 100 backstroke.

"We had a lot of time drops (Saturday) and a lot of personal bests,"
Newman said. "Isaac really improved in the 200 IM, and our
butterflyers did really well. They looked really strong in that."

Grand Forks has meets in Bismarck on Friday and Mandan on Saturday,
followed by its last dual of the season at Fargo North. Then comes
the East Region meet Feb. 28 in West Fargo, followed the week after
by the state meet at UND's Hyslop pool.