When University of Wyoming swimmer Scott Usher returned from Athens last fall, he had more than a bad case of jet lag.

He had Olympics lag, too.

Usher admitted it was tough to get motivated for a Mountain West Conference "early bird" meet in Fort Collins, Colo., a mere two months after returning from the Olympic Games. But try to understand. In August, Usher finished seventh in the world in the 200-meter breaststroke. He did it in front of 10,000 fans in Greece and millions of television viewers.

By October, the crowd was 50 and his competition wouldn't have gotten close to the Olympics even if they were held in the Rockies.

"I wasn't able to get fired up as much," Usher said. "I talked to (UW head coach Tom Johnson) about this, but around Thanksgiving I finally told myself, what am I doing, I need to kick it up a notch and start having fun doing what I'm doing. Then things started getting back to normal."

Now, things are almost back to Olympic-level intensity for Usher. He'll try for his (and UW's) first collegiate individual title on Friday and Saturday at the NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships in Minneapolis. On April 1, he'll kick off his post-collegiate career at the USA Swimming World Championships Trials. If those meets aren't motivation enough, the 200-yard breaststroke at the NCAA meet promises to be one of the fastest races ever, and his entire swimming future might rest on his performance at the World Championships trials.

No pressure.

"We want to end his college career on a high note," Johnson said. "And then, he'll probably go pro after that, and it'll be an opportunity for him to swim professionally. I've never said that before, among my kids, so it's kind of a nice thing to be able to say."

First, Usher will tangle with the country's best collegiate swimmers at the NCAA meet. The 100 and 200 breaststroke races will be competitive but will also be without Brendan Hansen. The former Texas star, who graduated after last season, never lost a collegiate race in the 100 or 200 breaststroke, and last year he set an NCAA record in the 200 to beat out Usher for the title.

But the two swimmers are friends. Hansen will attend this year's NCAA meet as a spectator, and the two likely will train together for the World Championships this summer. Hansen won the silver medal in the 100 and bronze in the 200 at the Athens games.

Even with Hansen out of the NCAA picture, Usher will still compete with another big foe: the pool. Usher's strength is his ability to powerfully cut through the water, which is why he's slightly better at the 200 than the 100 and slightly better when swimming a long course (200 meters) as opposed to a short course (200 yards, which converts to about 183 meters). The NCAA race at the University of Minnesota will take place in a short-course pool.

"With my stroke, that's where I can really catch people and put them behind me if I want to," Usher said. "In a short-course race, there's more turns, and it gives the other swimmers a better chance to get ahead of me."

And the competition won't just be about the pool. Both Usher and his coach said the race should be one of the fastest in the country this year, which is a tribute to the fast times swam already this season. Stanford's Gary Marshall and Alabama's Vladislav Polyakov hold the two fastest times in both the 100 and the 200. Usher's fastest short-course times this season rank 14th in the NCAA in the 100 and 10th in the 200.

Usher has preliminaries for the 100 on Friday afternoon and finals in the evening session. Preliminaries for the 200 are scheduled for Saturday afternoon, with the finals that night.

Immediately after the NCAA meet, Usher will focus his attention on the World Championships Trials. He'll be back in his element - a long-course pool - for the trials, but that doesn't mean he's relaxed about the meet.

"Not everybody gets the opportunity to keep on swimming," Usher said. "That's exciting for me, because I want to keep on swimming."

At the trials, Usher will be in the hunt for a ticket to the World Championships and for sponsors. After the World Championships, or the World University Games if he doesn't qualify for the World Championships, Usher likely will swim on the World Cup circuit. That stretch of swimming events, run by the Federation Internationale de Natation, takes competitors to such exotic locations as Brazil and Australia, mostly during the winter months.

"I think Greece, going to Athens, really opened his eyes to the rest of the world and this is a kid who really likes to travel now," Johnson said. "I think he's really excited about those opportunities. He's very hungry. So we'll see what happens."

Johnson mentioned hunger, and Usher got famished when he lost the 100 breaststroke at the Mountain West Conference championships earlier this month. It was the first time he'd lost the race at the conference meet since his freshman year, and he came back with a vengeance in the 200, winning the race in a blistering time of 1 minute, 57.51 seconds.

Usher said he's gunning for UNLV's Patrick Adams, who won the 100 at the Mountain West meet, at the NCAAs.

It's just one of many motivating factors for Usher, a swimmer who's now fully recovered from his case of Olympics lag and ready for the future.

Sports reporter Peter Hockaday can be reached at (307) 266-0615 or peter.hockaday@casperstartribune.net.

INFOBOX

n WHAT: NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships.

n WHO: Wyoming Olympian Scott Usher tries for his first collegiate title in the 100- and 200-yard breaststrokes.

n WHEN: The meet runs Thursday through Saturday; Usher swims the 100 on Friday and the 200 on Saturday.

n WHERE: The University Aquatic Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.

n WHAT'S NEXT: Usher will try to earn a spot on the U.S. team at the USA Swimming World Championships Trials in Indianapolis, starting April 1.