"I wasn’t getting into the pool every day thinking, 'Oh, this is for the Olympics.' I was getting in because I was having fun with it. I just love what I do."

Elizabeth Beisel

SOUTH KINGSTOWN - Success definitely comes with a price tag, but love of the work can reduce the cost.

"It’s almost like I don’t remember all the hard work, because it’s so worth it," said Elizabeth Beisel, the North Kingstown High School junior and U.S. Olympic swimmer.

It was 11 o’clock Saturday morning and Beisel had just broken a 19-year-old University of Rhode Island pool record in the 200-yard individual medley. In most places 11 a.m. is not exactly prime time, but on the Rhode Island sports scene these days prime time is any time Beisel is in the water.

She’s only 16 years old and her story already is one of the most heralded tales of any native-born Rhode Island athlete. It’s the story of the girl who was born and raised in Saunderstown and is now one of the top swimmers in the world. In August she placed fourth in the 200-meter individual medley and fifth in the 200-meter backstroke at the Beijing Olympics.

It’s a story that just seems to keep getting better every day and yesterday added another chapter.

Through it all -- the Olympic experience, the national TV appearances, being introduced at Fenway Park -- she has said that in addition to loving swimming, she also loves being a student at North Kingstown High School.

So she was at URI competing in the Interscholastic League girls state swim meet as a member of the North Kingstown girls swim team.

Some people wonder why an athlete who has competed in the Olympics would want to get up early on a Saturday morning to compete in a high school swim meet in the smallest state in the country.

But for Beisel, there was never any question she would be at URI on Saturday.

"Every year, I love coming to this meet. I love seeing everybody from Rhode Island," said Beisel, who will be honored Sunday night as the 2008 Rhode Island Female Athlete of the Year by Words Unlimited, the association of Rhode Island sports media members.

So there she was Saturday, poising for pictures with fellow competitors and signing autographs in between setting state high school and URI pool records and loving every minute of it.

"She’s an ambassador for the sport," North Kingstown principal Gerry Foley offered about how Beisel has increased the interest in swimming throughout the state. "We have a lot more students swimming at our school now. It’s so unique to have a public school student do what she’s doing."

Do you understand what you have done for swimming in Rhode Island? I asked Beisel.

"It’s starting to sink in a little," she said. "It’s funny, every time I finish a race everybody is standing [and] clapping and I’m like, ‘It wasn’t that good’. I have never seen a crowd like this for a swim meet in Rhode Island. It’s great to get the community involved."

Most of the fans who packed the stands Saturday were there because they had a daughter, granddaughter or friend among the hundreds of competitors. But they also knew with Beisel and Prout’s Laura Sogar in the field, they might be witness to something special.

Beisel and Sogar didn’t disappoint.

Sogar is the Prout senior who, if she had been competing at any other time in the history of Rhode Island high school swimming, would have been the main headliner. She is one of the top young swimmers in the country. She has been a Rhode Island high school champion for four straight years, she has won several national junior titles, and last June she reached the eight-swimmer final of the 200-meter breaststroke at the U.S. Olympic trials.

Three of the four years of her high school career, however, occurred during the "Beisel Era," so she has been on the fringes of the spotlight.

But Saturday, in her final appearance as a high school swimmer, she definitely earned an equal share of the limelight with Beisel.

Not surprisingly, Beisel delivered a spectacular performance as she set state high school and URI pool records en route to individual titles in the 200-yard individual medley and the 200-yard backstroke. She finished just fractions of a second short of the national high school record in both events.

But Sogar was equally impressive. Like Beisel she won two individual events, the 100-yard butterfly and the 100-yard breaststroke. Her 1:00.71 performance in the breaststroke, not only set a state high school and URI pool record, but also was only 1/100th of a second off the national high school record. She also led two Prout relay teams to victory, including a state record setting effort in the 400-yard freestyle relay.

"I definitely wanted to go out with a bang and leave my mark if I could," said Sogar, who has signed a National Letter of Intent with the University of Texas.

"It has been amazing with all my friends on the team, all these kids I grew up [with]," Sogar added about her high school career. "It has been so much fun."

Sometimes the price tag for success comes with a bonus.

jgillool@projo.com