RALEIGH, N.C. — For members of the Marlins of Raleigh (MOR) swim club, the trip to Omaha, Neb. in the next few days may prove to be the most exciting time of their lives. There, the club will be performing trial-runs for possible Olympic qualifying.

The local club, formed by coach Paul Silver and North Carolina State swimming coach Brooks Teal, boasts seven possible qualifiers for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing; most notably, two N.C. State swimmers.

Rising juniors Kevin Woodhull-Smith and Mason McGee both have a Beijing dream within sight.

“I don’t know if all of this will really sink in until we get out there,” McGee said. “It’s just gonna’ be unreal how big the magnitude is, and all of the focus will be on us.”

Kevin, a Durham native, said with a laugh, “We’re just gonna’ go out there with all of our NC State stuff on and try to represent our team well.”

With the success of former Wolfpack swimmer Cullen Jones, the shoes of success are hard to fill, but both Woodhull-Smith and McGee feel that this year’s competitors can shed light on other N.C. State swimmers besides Jones.

“Pretty much everyone knows who Cullen Jones is, but I think it’ll be good out there at trials to have some faith in some other swimmers at N.C. State,” McGee said.

Those trials are what determine whether or not this local group of swimmers will come away with any Olympic qualifiers. According to Woodhull-Smith, the addition of N.C. State swimmers to MOR two years ago has revamped the swim club and provides a better chance for qualifying because of more competition.

Wolfpack coach Brooks Teal feels that the training the two groups take advantage of during the summer, is the “best of both worlds.”

“I think our swimmers definitely benefit from association with coach Silver and hopefully our (N.C. State) swimmers are good role-models for his swimmers,” Teal said. “It’s been good, close-working relationship.”