2004 Olympian Scott Usher celebrated many victories during his collegiate career with the Wyoming Cowboys.

June 27, 2008

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -

Purdue football coach Joe Tiller is probably the most well-known Wyoming Cowboy roaming the Indiana plains. But just a few blocks down the road, another Cowboy by the name of Scott Usher is currently rustling up the waters of the Boilermaker Aquatic Center.

Usher never competed for the Boilermakers, but he's been hanging around town for the past 18 months preparing for the U.S. Olympic Trials, where only the top two finishers in each event will go on to represent Team USA at the Summer Olympics.  

Usher, ranked fourth in both breaststroke races with times of 1:01.07 and 2:11.49, has a lot going for him at Trials, which begin next Sunday at Omaha's Qwest Center. He went through this meet four years ago, understands the routine, and has competed with and against some of the best swimmers in the nation, including Brendan Hansen, Mark Gangloff and training partner Giordan Pogioli.

His biggest advantage, however, may be the hometown crowd. A native of Grand Island, Nebraska, Usher received a hero's welcome from those in attendance at the Mutual of Omaha Swimvitational held earlier this month.

"I have a lot of pride in my home state and the crowd brought out the best in me," said Usher, who placed fifth in the 200-meter breaststroke. "The crowd got really loud for me coming down the stretch because I'm the home-state boy and past Olympian trying to get back there again. That excites me a lot. I just have to remember to swim my race and not try and overdo it in the first 50 meters."

Nebraskan's have a lot to be proud of when it comes to Usher and every ovation he receives from now until the end of his competitive career will be well deserved. His story is of a kid who was not heavily recruited out of high school yet made it onto the Olympic team given the first available opportunity.

Then came Texas A&M, which had a good team at the time and recruited him the hardest of any university. Usher was excited about his chance to join the Aggies, but decided to use a last official visit on Wyoming a week before the national signing date.

It proved to be a very fateful trip.

His trip to the Cowboy State not only convinced Usher to pass on Texas A&M, but served as a modest starting point on the road to an accomplished collegiate career.

He liked the coach. He liked the outdoors. And that's all it took for him to become attached to the little land-grant university of 13,000 students.

Usher's career hit full stride in Laramie under the guidance of head coach Tom Johnston, who helped the youngster place among the top three in both breaststroke races at the 2003 U.S. Open and again at the 2004 Olympic Trials. Usher did not medal at the 2004 Greek Olympiad, but did  placed seventh and gave the Wyoming program a shot of world-wide exposure.

Scott Usher was a member of the 2004 U.S. National Swim Team at the Summer Olympics. He placed seventh in the 200 breaststroke.

"T.J.'s a very passionate coach and he brought out the passion in me," said Usher. "Transitioning from high school to college, I needed that fiery coach who would yell to keep me focused on my school work and push me in practice when I wasn't doing things right. He certainly lit the fire that's kept me going."

Usher graduated from Wyoming in 2006, but quickly found himself in a rut as a volunteer assistant coach for the Cowboys. Usher's problem was that he kept getting older while the students around him remained the same age. He needed to go somewhere that had a quality long-course meter facility and individuals capable of matching his skill level.

He found that here at Purdue.

Usher wasn't a complete stranger to the Boilermaker Aquatic Center as he competed there on two prior occasions. First, during a three-day invitational in 2003 and again at the 2006 U.S. Open. Usher set a Doris Z. Holloway Pool record in the 200 breast of 1:57.91 in his first trip to Purdue, but that mark was eclipsed by Pogioli, who clocked a 1:56.13 at the 2004 Big Ten Championships.

Usher's eventual transfer to Purdue was set in motion during the summer of 2006 as Ross and Johnson, a close friend, started talking about the possibility of having Pogioli and Usher together as training partners. Usher arrived in West Lafayette that November for the U.S. Open and lived with Pogioli for a few days before accepting an invitation to train with the Boilermakers over Winter Break.

"I decided to give Purdue a try since I'd be working with Dan, who is one of the most respected coaches in the nation, and with Giordan, who is also a great breaststroker - I've never had a training partner as good as him," Usher said. "Those two factors really excited me, plus they train at one of the greatest facilities I've ever been."

"Scott didn't have a place to go and felt like he was getting stale, so he asked us if we'd be interested in a more permanent relationship while we were in Hawai'i, and he's been under my charge ever since," Ross said. "I think this situation has been great for both of us, now we'll just have to see what happens next week."

Although both are ranked very high, Usher and Pogioli are underdogs to make the Olympic Team. Hansen, a three-time Olympic medalist is miles ahead of the field as the favorite to win the 100 (59.13) and 200 breast (2:08.50). His Longhorn Aquatic teammates, Eric Shanteau and Scott Spann, also have recently posted strong showings with Shanteau winning the 200 breast at the Swimvitational and Spann recording lifetime bests of 1:01.18 and 2:11.35.

Usher hasn't recorded a personal record in the 200 breast since his Olympic year of 2004, or a lifetime best in the 100 breast since the summer of 2006, but that hasn't deterred Ross from believing Usher is about to do something special at Trials. In fact, his unrested times of 1:01.36 and  2:12.12 at May's Purdue Early Bird Invitational were very close to his top career times of 1:01.07 and 2:10.90.

Usher's not one to get caught up in times because they don't mean a whole lot if they're not good enough to win the race. Swimming, at it's most basic, is about beating the other guy and Usher possesses the right mindset to handle everything Trials throws at him, whether its 15,000 screaming fans, controversial swim suit battles or the slower, portable pool.

He just wants to win and has the chance to do it. 

Usher's routine calls for him to arrive at the pool 90 minutes ahead of time. He stretches, relaxes, warms up, and stretches some more before  getting his suit on with 10 minutes to go before race time. He visualizes his race, focuses on staying in the zone and talks to himself about why he  started swimming as he walks behind the starting blocks. It's all about having fun.

There's no way he can keep the crowd out of his ears. He appreciates the adoration without playing up to the crowd beforehand for fear of getting overexcited and nervous.

"Nerves can get to you in this sport and Dan's been doing a great job lately of helping me keep my head on," Usher said. "I'm a veteran and I  know how to deal with these kids of meets, I've been to them before, but I can get to thinking too much. Dan knows I swim the best when I swim  my race and I'm not thinking about anything else."

"Talent is talent. And what I find with guys like Scott and Giordan is that I just step out of the way more," added Ross. "You have to let them do  their thing and nine times out of 10 they'll make the right choice. One time you might have to steer them in the right direction but they're a hell of lot easier to coach than the guy trying to get up to this level. They know they want to be there and are making the appropriate sacrifices."

For Ross, having Usher and Pogioli in the Boilermaker Aquatics' stable is part of a larger mission to attract and prepare student-athletes for a  shot at making an Olympic or national team.

Adam Soldati, hired three years ago by Purdue to continue building its diving program, is already a brand-name coach. He guided both Amanda  Miller and David Colturi to several major international meets this year in addition to Olympic Trials, and recruited first-time Olympian David  Boudia for the start of the 2008-09 season.

Now it's Ross' and his swimmers opportunity to advance the program and start developing their own culture of high expectations.

Boilermaker Aquatics will be represented at Trials by Aaron Koger, Andrew Langenfeld, Jennifer Lavers, Jenny Connolly, John Schmitt and  Carlene Takaki in addition to Pogioli and Usher. And with the exception of Connolly, a senior at Lafayette Harrison High School, many of them are longshots to make the U.S. Swim Team.

The Boilermakers' lack of notoriety should not diminish their previous accomplishments. All of them have taken turns rewriting the Purdue record  books, won multiple races at dual meets and invitationals, and scored high points at the conference meet. They all deserve to be in Omaha - their times prove that - but finishing among the top eight or 16 at Trials is going to take a lot more effort and energy than it ever could at Big Ten's.

Koger, seeded 74th in the 100 breast with a time of 1:04.60, is not going to Omaha with Olympic dreams but knows what it takes to succeed at Trials from having paid close attention to Usher since his arrival at Purdue. The Richmond, Indiana, native admires Usher's dedication to practice and for following a strict routine.

"Making the 2008 Olympic team is not an attainable goal, but swimming my best time and moving up in place and rank in the country definitely  is," Koger said. "Over the course of my swimming career, however long it is, I really hope I can swim as fast as Scott and become as accomplished as he is."

Koger and the rest of the Boilermakers have really taken to Usher's leadership even though he describes himself as the silent type, someone who chooses to lead by example rather than words. Since Usher usually won't speak up unless something needs to be said, his teammates are all  ears whenever he's called to address them.

"I'm a fierce trainer when I'm focused so I helped Tim (Watts) and Andre (Koop) prepare for Olympic Trials, and then going into the  Swimvitational, Dan had me tell the team what my routine was for that week," Usher said. "But, overall, I really don't have to be too vocal around  these guys because they're very mature and they know what they're doing. That's why like training with them."

Usher, Pogioli and Koger begin their Olympic Trials journey Sunday afternoon for the prelims of the 100 breast and they'll advance to that night's  semifinals if they place among the top 16. The 100 breast championship final takes place Monday night and can be seen on the USA cable network from 8 to 9 p.m. ET.

Prelims for the 200 breast begin Wednesday, July 2, with finals schedule for the night of July 3.

Olympic Trials Television Schedule
Sunday, June 29 - 8 to 9 p.m. ET - NBC
Monday, June 30 - 8 to 9 p.m. ET - USA
Tuesday, July 1 - 8 to 9 p.m. ET - USA
Wednesday, July 2 - 8 to 9 p.m. ET - USA
Thursday, July 3 - 8 to 9 p.m. ET - USA
Friday, July 4 - 8 to 9 p.m. ET - NBC
Saturday, July 5 - 8 to 9 p.m. ET - NBC
Sunday, July 6 - 8 to 9 p.m. ET - NBC