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28 | August 17, 2017 | The glencoe anchor sports<br />
glencoeanchor.com<br />
Alumni Spotlight<br />
LA grad Smart named NJCAA All-American, set to play at UIC<br />
Michael Wojtychiw<br />
Sports Editor<br />
To be named as one of<br />
the best in your craft, regardless<br />
of what it is, is<br />
always an honor. When<br />
the list of the best includes<br />
only 12 members, including<br />
only one of two from<br />
your state, the feat becomes<br />
more impressive.<br />
Loyola Academy graduate<br />
Thomas Smart was<br />
one of only four freshmen<br />
to be named a National<br />
Junior College Athletic<br />
Association Division III<br />
Baseball First Team All-<br />
American after a successful<br />
first season while<br />
playing for Oakton Community<br />
College.<br />
“I wasn’t really expecting<br />
it but it was a tremendous<br />
honor,” Smart said.<br />
“It’s a huge credit to our<br />
coaches and my teammates.”<br />
The right-handed hitter<br />
batted .424 with four<br />
home runs, eight triples,<br />
75 hits and 53 runs batted<br />
in. His slugging percentage<br />
was .667. His eight<br />
triples were sixth in the<br />
country, while his hit total<br />
was 20th and RBI total<br />
22nd.<br />
“My role on the team<br />
was just to go out and<br />
win games, bring a positive<br />
energy to the team,”<br />
he said. “Right when I got<br />
there I wasn’t sure what<br />
they’d need me for or how<br />
much playing time I’d get<br />
but as the fall went on, it<br />
became clear what guys<br />
were going to play where<br />
and who’s going to do<br />
what.”<br />
Transitioning from high<br />
school to college baseball<br />
can be difficult, especially<br />
with teams traveling all<br />
across the state, and even<br />
the country, during the<br />
middle of the school year.<br />
Many northern teams will<br />
play in the south in late<br />
February and March because<br />
the weather in the<br />
northern states weather<br />
doesn’t always cooperate.<br />
But that also takes<br />
the student-athletes out of<br />
school for long stretches<br />
of time, sometimes multiple<br />
weeks in a row.<br />
“The time management,<br />
Loyola graduate Thomas Smart looks to make a play<br />
during Oakton Community College’s 2017 season.<br />
PHOTO SUBMITTED<br />
balancing school with<br />
baseball was the hardest<br />
part,” Smart said. “In high<br />
school, I played multiple<br />
sports, so it wasn’t a huge<br />
adjustment but the long<br />
drives, the long days, trying<br />
to stay focused during<br />
the season and balancing<br />
both was the hardest part.”<br />
Smart came to Oakton<br />
looking for some scholarship<br />
offers that would allow<br />
him to play at an even<br />
higher level. His brother<br />
had played at Oakton as<br />
well, and had gotten a<br />
scholarship, so he knew<br />
Oakton would allow him<br />
that opportunity.<br />
And give the 2016<br />
Loyola graduate an opportunity<br />
it has.<br />
Earlier this summer,<br />
Smart committed to play<br />
baseball next season at<br />
the University of Illinois<br />
at Chicago, where he will<br />
be joining 2017 Loyola<br />
graduate Ryan Lin-Peistrup<br />
on the baseball team.<br />
The Flames are coming off<br />
of an extremely successful<br />
season that saw them<br />
win the Horizon League<br />
and qualify for the NCAA<br />
Tournament. The 2017<br />
Flames tied the 2002 and<br />
2003 teams with a school<br />
record 39 wins. The group<br />
lost the fewest amount of<br />
games, 17, since the 2002<br />
team (16).<br />
“I felt it [UIC]’d be the<br />
best fit for me,” he said. “I<br />
loved everything about the<br />
program. The coaches are<br />
great, I love that it’s close<br />
to home. I think we have<br />
a good chance to win and<br />
I’m just excited.”<br />
Along with making<br />
his college commitment,<br />
Smart has been playing in<br />
the Northwoods League, a<br />
summer league made up<br />
of college baseball players<br />
playing on teams all<br />
over the states of Wisconsin,<br />
Illinois, Michigan and<br />
Minnesota. Smart has been<br />
playing on the Madison<br />
Mallards and through 60<br />
games, was hitting .257,<br />
58 hits and 30 RBI. His<br />
hits total is good enough<br />
for third on the team and<br />
the RBI for fifth. He is also<br />
one of only three junior<br />
college players on a squad<br />
of 31.<br />
“It’s been real eye-opening,<br />
facing the best of the<br />
best and competing with<br />
them,” Smart said. “It’s<br />
also been a lot of fun playing<br />
baseball every day for<br />
the whole summer. I’ve<br />
learned a lot and been a<br />
great opportunity for me.”<br />
Montoya<br />
From Page 30<br />
that earned three gold<br />
medals in the CanAmMex<br />
regatta.<br />
“We competed against<br />
rowers from Canada and<br />
Mexico, we raced three<br />
styles of boats and we won<br />
the gold medal in each,” he<br />
said. “It was a special experience<br />
that opened a lot<br />
of doors for me.”<br />
Another older brother,<br />
37-year-old David who<br />
now does military security<br />
work in Florida, also distinguished<br />
himself in athletics.<br />
He played football<br />
at the U.S. Naval Academy.<br />
Carlos went to the University<br />
of Illinois, where<br />
he studied economics and<br />
Spanish. After college,<br />
he entered the healthcare<br />
field.<br />
“We come from a family<br />
of people who like to take<br />
care of others,” he said.<br />
“There are a lot of physicians<br />
in my family so I<br />
think that’s why I got into<br />
health care. I was helping<br />
physicians manage their<br />
web-sites and their billings.<br />
That taught me about<br />
business.<br />
“At the same time, I was<br />
coaching Loyola Academy<br />
rowing and one of the parents<br />
told me I should open<br />
a gym.”<br />
Carlos liked the idea<br />
of combining an entrepreneurial<br />
endeavor with<br />
physical training.<br />
“I merged the two passions<br />
together and started<br />
my gym in 2007,” he said.<br />
“I’m now working with<br />
about 70 adults — the demographic<br />
is mostly people<br />
from ages 40-60 and I<br />
have a few people in their<br />
70s. There also are about<br />
25 high school kids I’m<br />
working with, ranging in<br />
age from 13-18.<br />
“There are four daily<br />
classes of one hour —<br />
5:30 and 9 in the morning<br />
and 5:30 and 6:30<br />
in the afternoon. Each<br />
class is broken into parts.<br />
The first portion after<br />
the warm up is strengthbased<br />
training; the second<br />
portion is accessory<br />
training to isolate muscle<br />
groups; the third portion<br />
is conditioning, getting<br />
the heart rate up; and the<br />
fourth part is stretching<br />
movements.<br />
“They do (essentially)<br />
the same workouts as my<br />
brother, but I scale down<br />
and modify. My 94-yearold<br />
grandmother [Esperanza<br />
Galvez] is even doing<br />
similar things to what<br />
Al does. She doesn’t do<br />
weights but I have her<br />
pulling a sled.”<br />
In addition to a brother<br />
who plays in the NHL<br />
and a 94-year-old grandma,<br />
Conjugate Fitness<br />
has other notable clients,<br />
such as Glenview Village<br />
President Jim Patterson<br />
and Denny Hebson of the<br />
Hackney’s family restaurant<br />
group who moonlights<br />
by writing a column for<br />
The Glenview Lantern.<br />
Al Montoya comes to<br />
Conjugate Fitness for his<br />
private 90-minute workouts<br />
four or five days a<br />
week.<br />
“Sometimes he will<br />
bring a friend,” Carlos<br />
said. “He has brought<br />
Mike Brown [a former<br />
Glenbrook North player<br />
who was a Michigan teammate<br />
and now is a free<br />
agent who has played for<br />
six NHL teams]. Other<br />
times I’ll go to Roscoe Village<br />
and bring some pieces<br />
of equipment and he will<br />
do something light.<br />
“The relationship my<br />
brother and I have established<br />
has grown bigger<br />
and stronger every year<br />
and has added to the success<br />
both of us have enjoyed.<br />
I don’t think there<br />
are many relationships that<br />
rival our relationship.”
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