Just Preps : They Can Do It All : Bishop Amat’s Abel Montanez and Monrovia’s Justin Yuille Play Multiple Sports, Study Hard and Still Have a Good Time

As several nuns pass through the dimly lit gymnasium at noon, the thumping beat of hip-hop fills the building.

Everyone is moving, and Abel Montanez dances with a group of girls. A senior, he says he plans to enjoy his last year at Bishop Amat High.

At a time when Scholastic Assessment Test scores are dropping and athletes are increasingly in the news for run-ins with police, Montanez of Bishop Amat and Justin Yuille of Monrovia High are excelling at athletics, academics and everything else they take on.

They acknowledge juggling as much as they do is difficult, but they are skillful time managers. While others talk on the phone, they’re studying.

Many put off homework, but theirs is finished before bed. They leave nothing for tomorrow.

They also say they are having the time of their lives.

“My friends see me partying on the weekends and they don’t even know I get good grades,” Montanez said. “If you ask them, they will say, ‘Hell no, Able isn’t a good student.’ ”

But Montanez is in the National Honor Society, a captain of the football and baseball teams, belongs to several campus organizations and maintains a 3.85 grade-point average.

He is also a favorite to win the Pat Haden Award, named for the former USC and Ram quarterback who graduated from Bishop Amat in 1971 and went on to become a Rhodes scholar.

Had he attended Bishop Amat, Yuille might be Montanez’s chief competitor for the award. Yuille carries a 3.8 GPA, starts at cornerback on the football team and is a star sprinter on the track team.

Both are meticulous in scheduling their time.

Always reading or writing in their day-planners, they know when deadlines are coming up and how much time it will take to meet them.

Montanez wakes at 5:45 a.m. and leaves for school by 7. He is taking economics, trigonometry and physics.

At noon, while he eats a sandwich, he is in the locker room studying film on upcoming opponents.

By 2 p.m. he is at practice, which can run two to three hours.

Montanez arrives home at 7 and studies for his religion class while he eats dinner. At 9:30 he makes a few phone calls and is usually in bed by 10, except when his load is too heavy. He stays up until it’s done.

No television.

“Sometimes after practice I get so tired,” Montanez said. “You get used to working while you’re tired.”

Yuille’s schedule is similar. He’s up by 6 and sometimes doesn’t arrive home from practice until 8 p.m.

But unlike Montanez, Yuille talks on the phone or goes out to eat with his family before doing homework. He just makes sure it’s done before bed.

Also, no television.

“My parents don’t force me to do my homework,” Yuille said. “I study and do homework so I’ll know what is coming up in the test.”

Still, there are conflicts.

Montanez was scheduled to take the SAT last June. The college entrance exam is one of the most grueling educational experiences, and many students are drained afterward.

Bishop Amat played in the CIF Division I baseball championship at Anaheim Stadium the same day.

After the SAT, Montanez headed for center field in Anaheim. He had three hits, including a triple and a double, and drove in three runs.

The Lancers lost, 14-7, to Fountain Valley, but Montanez scored a 1,060 on the SAT.

“I was glad to take the SAT that day,” he said. “It was good to have a distraction. But I know I could have done better on it if I had taken it another time.”

Montanez is retaking the test in October and says he hopes for a 1,200.

Three weeks ago, Monrovia Coach Steve Garrison kept Yuille out of the first quarter of the Wildcats’ game against Etiwanda because he missed a practice during the Labor Day weekend. He was in Mexico, but his trip was no vacation.

Yuille’s family is active in the Baha’i Church, and he made the trip with other members of his congregation to work at an orphanage and convalescent hospital.

Football is both players’ main concern right now. They expect to have good seasons that they hope will result in college scholarships.

Yuille, who also plays tailback and wide receiver, has gotten off to a quick start. Last Friday, with Monrovia trailing West Covina, 21-17, he made a diving catch in the end zone with 20 seconds to play to clinch the Wildcats’ first victory.

Montanez has 20 tackles and one interception in three games.

In his first season on the varsity, Montanez started at free safety. In the Division I championship, Montanez had two interceptions in a 28-21 loss to Santa Ana Mater Dei.

So how do they attend class, watch game film, lift weights, practice, sleep, eat and still have time for fun?

“Sometimes after practice I get so tired--it’s a lot of work,” Montanez said. “But we’re in school only about 13 years. What is that compared to the rest of your life?”

Yuille and Montanez see their lives the way a juggler looks at an added bowling pin or flaming arrow.

“I keep a balance,” Yuille said. “Every once in a while it teeters to one side or the other. But you try to keep the work in perspective. Hanging out with your friends can be just as important.”