Dillon Smart has an affinity for two things: the beach and lacrosse. It was fitting that he chose to play Division I lacrosse at Monmouth, a school that sits just blocks from the beach — and apparently, the waves are “much better than Wildwood,” where he currently works as a lifeguard.

Smart, the sophomore defenseman out of Thorton, Pa., spent his high school summers in Ocean City, N.J., surfing and serving as a lifeguard at a local apartment complex. He found a passion for lifting during his freshman year of high school, and he didn’t look back.

Smart’s two interests converged in 2013, when he and his brother, Nick, were on a family vacation in Atlantic City, N.J. The brothers saw a woman frantically gesturing toward the water, where her husband and child were clinging to a pipe, unable to get to shore.

VITALS

Dillon Smart
Monmouth

No. 80
Year: Sophomore
Position: Defense
Height: 6-0
Weight: 190
Bench: 315
Squat: 315

Smart, on his surfboard, paddled out to the father and son, who were exhausted and bloodied. Nick Smart took the child on his board and left Dillon Smart with the heavier father. It took some hard work, but Dillon Smart was able to bring the father to shore. He may have saved the man’s life.

“If I hadn’t lifted, that guy probably wouldn’t have gotten in,” he said. “My brother was expecting me to get the bigger guy. I’m really struggling like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ I got him in, but it took a lot out of me, for sure.”