He wants to make the Commonwealth Games and warmed up for next month's qualifying with a tough meet in Sydney last weekend.
Crosland (29) is ranked second in the country for the long-course 100m backstroke and first in the short-course.
''It would be awesome to get there,'' he said.
''It would be life-changing for me and would be a massive boost for Otago swimming.
''If I can get to the Commonwealth Games I know that the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro would definitely be in my sights.''
Leading the long-course times is Gareth Kean, who trains at the Swimming New Zealand High Performance Centre in Auckland.
Crosland has a best time of 54.70sec for his specialty long-course 100m backstroke. The Commonwealth Games qualifying mark is 54.63sec.
Crosland returned to Dunedin yesterday after competing in the New South Wales championships in Sydney against 2011 world champion Camille Lacourt (France) and the top Australians.
He finished sixth in the 50m backstroke in 25.98sec, which was his second-best time for the swim, sixth in the 100m backstroke in 55.60sec, and 12th in the 200m backstroke in 2min 05.49sec.
Crosland is in heavy training at the moment and has yet to start his taper for the New Zealand championships in early April.
Crosland was a promising teenage swimmer when he trained under the late Duncan Laing at Moana Pool.
He had a long period away from the sport but has worked hard with coach Gennadiy Labara since returning to serious training three years ago.
Labara has highlighted starts and turns as an area that need plenty of work from Crosland.
Watching the video of his swimming at the Queensland championships late last year highlighted problems with his start.
''I got left behind at the start. I finished fourth in the 100m backstroke final behind three Australians in 55.30sec.''
Crosland has the backing of the Dunedin Masters Swimming Group, which has backed him financially to get to races in Australia.
''They have taken the stress of money issues away from me,'' Crosland said.
The inspiration to come back into swimming was inspired by his son, Riley (4). He wanted to make his son proud of his father.
Swimming New Zealand wanted Crosland to re-locate to the High Performance Academy in Auckland but he has stayed loyal to Otago.
''I have faith in Gennadiy. He is a hard task master and understands what you need to get there. If I do everything right I will get there.''
Kurt Crosland
At a glance
Age: 29.
Sport: Swimming
Best times: 50m (25.89sec), 100m (54.70sec), 200m (2min 00.12sec) backstroke, 200m individual medley (2min 04.60sec).
Record
NZ open 2013: Silver medals in 100m and 200m backstroke, two bronze and three relay medals.
NZ short-course 2013: Five gold and one silver medal.
