Two years ago TNT had no swimmers entered into the Santa Clara International meet, for the first time in several years. Last year trailblazers Colin Landweer and Nathan Rhea qualified and competed at the meet to become the first two of a new cohort. Five swimmers competed at the meet this year, and includedWesley Coles, Mallory Korenwinder, Colin Landweer Chris Nolan and Nathan Rhea. Chris Nolan became the only individual with a second swim, and he did so in the 200 meter butterfly event with a time of 2:07.25 and a 7th place finish in the bonus heat, which was the 25th fastest time swam at the meet in the event that fielded 9 swimmers in each of three final heats.
Mallory Korenwinder was one of two swimmers (the other being Chris Nolan) who came away with a 100% improvement rate, and her highest place finish came in the 100 meter breaststroke where she posted a time of 1:15.72 that resulted in a 45th place finish. The highest place finish from Wesley Coles was 55th in the 400 freestyle (4:15.35) and the highest place finish for Nathan Rhea was 37th in the 400 IM where he posted a time 4:49.27. Colin Landweers time of 2:17.55 gave him his highest place finish of 63rd in the 200 IM.
Our four male swimmers teamed up for three relays, the highlight being the 800 freestyle relay where an opportunity presented itself that placed our team into lane 5 which is commonly reserved for the fastest team entered into the event. Our sixth place performance by Wesley Coles, Chris Nolan, Colin Landweer and Nathan Rhea in the event was attained while competing with the Japan National Team to the left in lane 6 and the Australian National Team to the right in lane 3 in the 9-lane pool where lane 5 would be the fastest seed. Our team posted a time of 8:06.68 which broke both the 15-18 team record of 8:22.97 that was set by Wesley Coles, Nathan Rhea, Sam Hansen and Colin Landweer at Junior Olympics last year.
The Santa Clara International meet is typically the final stop on the Grand Prix circuit for numerous USA Olympic athletes, and the swim meet also plays host to athletes representing teams from Australia, Canada, Ecuador, Hong Kong, Japan, Lebanon, Mexico, New Zealand and Shanghai.