There's never been much doubt in Whitehall alum Christian Smolen's mind what he wanted to do with his life. Growing up the son of two parents in the medical field, Christian found himself drawn to it as well.
Now Smolen is pursuing that dream as a first-year med student at Wayne State University near Detroit after completing his baseball career at Siena Heights University earlier this year.
"From a young age, I loved learning about different viruses and bacteria and what their effect was on humans," Smolen said. "As I got older, I got to see more of the field, I knew it was something I wanted to do with the rest of my life."
He's picked a good spot for it; according to a 2023 U.S. News & World Report ranking, Wayne State is at No. 2 among Michigan medical schools. Originally, Smolen was hoping to go to med school at the University of Michigan with Wayne State his No. 2, but after being offered the opportunity to shadow a pediatric doctor at Wayne State, he changed his internal ranking.
"With the diverse population you see in Detroit, I have the opportunity to work with a lot of unique patient populations and with a lot of physicians," Smolen said. "I thought that would be best for my career."
Smolen hasn't made final decisions on his emphasis, but he's intrigued by internal medicine, as it gives him the chance to "solve complex problems." Immunology and rheumatology are fields he specifically mentioned as interesting to him. He added that he'd like to practice medicine back in his West Michigan home base someday.
Prior to his med-school journey, Smolen took his baseball talents to Siena Heights, where he majored in biology and was a three-time NAIA Scholar-Athlete award winner, carrying a 4.0 grade point average throughout his college career.
In addition to his baseball success, Smolen was also an impressive tennis player during his Whitehall time, earning first team all-state as a No. 1 doubles player, with teammate Ryan Findorff, in 2020.
After making seven total appearances his first two seasons on the Saints, Smolen finished strong his senior year, pitching 25 2/3 innings and placing highly in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference's leaderboard in the category of batting average against; he allowed only a .245 average to hitters during the season, and .217 in league games, which was 28th in the league out of over 200 pitchers.
The performance helped his team make its second straight WHAC tournament appearance. The team put up a good fight in its first tournament game against top seed Northwestern Ohio, which went 26-2 in league contests, but fell short in 11 innings en route to elimination.
It was against NWO earlier in the season, on April 16, where Smolen got the out he might best remember from his collegiate career, retiring Joskar Feliciano, who's a cousin of the famous Molina brothers Bengie, Jose and Yadier, who all starred at catcher in Major League Baseball. It was a big out in the game at the time, as Siena Heights trailed only 7-5 in the fourth inning (NWO, a powerful offensive club, caught fire later and ended up winning 19-5).
However, Smolen is humble enough to admit he didn't really earn the out.
"There were 30-35 mph wind gusts blowing in, and he absolutely crushed a ball off me," Smolen said, adding he was certain at the moment of contact that Feliciano had taken him out for a home run. "Luckily, my left fielder was able to catch it."
With Smolen's medical school career already underway, he won't be directly affected by Siena Heights' recently announced decision to close down after the 2025-26 academic year due to financial troubles. However, that doesn't mean he's not saddened by the move.
"It was truly shocking," Smolen said of the move. "I honestly felt more sad hearing the news than I did on graduation day. Then, it felt like I would always be able to go back to campus for homecoming and see friends, but this is the last year that will be a thing. I felt bad for all the faculty I connected with in my time there. Two years ago, there was a lot of bad news and it seemed like the school might close, and it was an incredibly stressful time. I can only imagine how stressful it must be for the guys who are still there."
Smolen said he appreciates his time at the school and particularly his bonds with the dozens of teammates he played with for the Saints. Those memories, at least, will always be there for him and for friends he made in college.
"I could get along with anybody there," Smolen said. "I would have conversations with anyone on the team. Any time since I graduated that I've been able to see someone from Siena Heights, it's cool to reconnect with them."
