A NEW HOME FOR KNEPPECK; HAPPY WITH BURGERS, GERMAN SWIMMER WILL STAY.Byline: Lee Barnathan Daily News Staff Writer Christian Kneppeck first found utopia in a hamburger. Then he made similar discoveries with American society and in swimming. Now, the German-born swimmer has no intention of returning home. He has found paradise in his mind. Look at him in Friday's Foothill League finals at Valley College. The smile he flashes is indicative. ``America is like a dream for everybody,'' he said. America defintely has more fast food outlets. Kneppeck knew about McDonald's growing up in Ludwigshaufen, but he had never encountered In-N-Out Burger In-N-Out Burger is a privately owned and operated fast food restaurant chain in the Western United States. Founded in 1948 and headquartered in Irvine, California, In-N-Out Burger has since expanded to Arizona and Nevada, and has announced plans to build in southern Utah. . That the chain doubled his beef and cheese made him love it twice as much. And fill Hart swim coach Steve Neale's classroom with the smell. ``The first couple of months, he'd come in with In-N-Out Burger,'' Neale said. ``Two at a time. He wanted In-N-Out all the time.'' Said Kneppeck: ``He will never forget that.'' Kneppeck said his parents aren't pleased with what they see as Germany losing its identity when it joined the European Union European Union (EU), name given since the ratification (Nov., 1993) of the Treaty of European Union, or Maastricht Treaty, to the European Community and abandons the Deutschmark for the European Currency Unit European Currency Unit: see European Monetary System. . Their suggestion to their 18-year-old son: Get out if you can. So Kneppeck came here and fell in love. In Germany, he said, the schools demand more of your time, giving you less time to swim. Kneppeck still managed to swim in a German club and excelled in distance events such as the 1,650-meter freestyle The code name for the MCE version of Windows. See Media Center Edition. and the 400-meter individual medley med·ley n. pl. med·leys 1. An often jumbled assortment; a mixture: "That night he dreamed he was traveling in a foreign country, only it seemed to be a medley of all the countries he'd ever been to and . His times were fast enough to merit consideration for the Swiss Olympic team. (He has dual citizenship because his mother was born in Switzerland.) U.S. high schools don't swim the 1,650 freestyle or the 400 individual medley. They focus more on sprints like the 50-yard, 100-yard and 200-yard freestyles. The longest event is the 500 freestyle, which feels like a sprint to Kneppeck. He'll swim it today at the Foothill League preliminaries at Valley College, along with the 200 IM and spots on the medley and 400 freestyle relays. But earlier this season, Kneppeck competed in a junior national meet and swam swam v. Past tense of swim. swam Verb the past tense of swim swam swim 1 minute, 54 seconds in the 200 backstroke. He also qualified for the May 14 Southern Section preliminaries in six events, but he can only swim two. Neale said he likely will swim the 500 freestyle and 200 IM. That's fine for Kneppeck. He loves it here and plans to stay and swim at College of the Canyons College of the Canyons is one of the fastest-growing community colleges in the state. According to the National Junior College Research Association, College of the Canyons consistently ranks in the top 50 community colleges in the nation. next year and try to win a college scholarship. ``Here I get more out of swimming,'' he said. CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO Hart High's Christian Kneppeck plans to stay following graduation Graduation is the action of receiving or conferring an academic degree or the associated ceremony. The date of event is often called degree day. The event itself is also called commencement, convocation or invocation. and attend College of the Canyons. Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion