JEFFREY REINHART jreinhart@LNPnews.com

The fun and games are over.

If you want to win medals – preferably gold ones – in the District 3 Swimming Championships, you better get serious and you better put in the time.

Colin Schouten certainly has.

Can’t find Warwick’s junior on a Tuesday or Thursday around 5:30 a.m.?

That’s because he’s over at the Lititz Community Center, swimming laps before heading to class.

“If you want to go to the next level – meaning district and state finals – that’s what you have to do,” Warwick coach Mark Daum said, “because at that level, everyone is doing it.”

The early morning dips have certainly helped Schouten, who is the only swimmer from Lancaster County that earned a pair of No. 1 seeds for the district meet, which is set for Friday and Saturday at Cumberland Valley High School.

Schouten will be seeded first in the Triple-A 200-yard freestyle (1:44.58) on Friday, and he’ll be seeded first in the 500 free (4:44.18) on Saturday. He won both of those distance events in the L-L League championship meet on Feb. 8.

“Very cool,” Schouten said of his dual No. 1 district seeds. “But at the same time, there is a lot of pressure.”

Schouten has coped with the pressure by swimming. And then swimming some more. Before school. After school. With his Warwick teammates. With his Five Star Club teammates. He’s been a fixture at Lititz Rec.

It hasn’t been a big change, exactly. Turns out Schouten altered his routine this season, adding more practice time – including those crack of dawn sessions – and more distance to his workouts. It’s not abnormal for him to do several sets of 300 and 400 yards in the morning, followed by several more sets of 500 and 600 yards in the afternoon.

“I made a conscious effort to do more this season,” Schouten said. “This past month was probably the hardest month of my life. I’ve been pushing myself so much.”

Practice does make perfect, after all. And with two gold medals already in his back pocket, and with a pair of No. 1 seeds this coming weekend to his credit, all of that extra time in the pool is paying off.

Now Schouten is hoping it will pay off in the form of gold medals this weekend – and maybe even in the PIAA Meet, set for next month at Bucknell University.

“Colin has an inner-drive, and he knows what he wants to do and what he wants to accomplish,” said Daum, who also coaches Schouten on the Five Star club team.

“He’s very calculated. He knows he has to pay the price, and he knows what he needs to do to get to where he wants to go.”

Schouten, who took third in the 200 in the district meet last season, would love to be standing at the tippy top of the medal platform on Friday and Saturday.

“For me, it’s all about the hard work,” Schouten said. “This season I’ve really, really pushed myself. I’ve come home from some practices already and I’ve said to my parents, ‘When is this going to pay off?’ I’ve worked so, so hard for this. So it would mean a lot to win.”

A win in either distance event is not a guarantee, even with the best times in the district going in.

In the 200, Schouten should be pushed by L-L League foe John Myers, a junior from Penn Manor, who is seeded second in 1:46.48. Myers is also seeded sixth in the 500 (4:58.23).

And Schouten is no doubt well aware of Wilson sophomore Dan Crigler, who is seeded second in the 500 (4:48.31) and third in the 200 (1:46.72).

Plus, Cumberland Valley is a fast pool, so practically everyone’s times should drop.

“I feel very blessed to have those two No. 1 seeds,” Schouten said. “Both races should be very competitive. … It’s weird because last year I was on the other side. Now I’m the No. 1 seed, and I see how difficult this really is.

“For whatever reason, I feel a little more relaxed going into Districts this season. The No. 1 seeds are a little nerve wracking, but at the same time, it’s forcing me to do a little extra work.”

Like those 5:30 a.m. dips, and the extra yardage in the afternoons.

If Schouten walks out of Cumberland Valley with a gold medal or two come Saturday afternoon, he’ll know all that extra effort was well worth it.