Toccara Montgomery (born December 30, 1982 in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

) is a retired amateur American freestyle wrestler, who competed in the women's heavyweight category. She won four U.S. national titles (2001–2004), scored two silver medals in the 68 and 72-kg division at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

(2001 and 2003), and finished seventh at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

, considering one of the most dominant female wrestlers in

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

sporting history. A graduate of

University of the Cumberlands The University of the Cumberlands is a private Christian university in Williamsburg, Kentucky. About 18,000 students are enrolled at the university. History University of the Cumberlands, first called Williamsburg Institute, was founded on Janu ...

, Montgomery has also served as a member of the wrestling squad for the

Cumberlands Patriots The University of the Cumberlands is a private Christian university in Williamsburg, Kentucky. About 18,000 students are enrolled at the university. History University of the Cumberlands, first called Williamsburg Institute, was founded on Jan ...

, and eventually became a graduate assistant coach for three consecutive seasons. Since 2010, Montgomery has been currently working as a full-time head coach for the women's wrestling squad at

Lindenwood University Lindenwood University is a private university in St. Charles, Missouri. Founded in 1827 by George Champlin Sibley and Mary Easton Sibley as The Lindenwood School for Girls, it is the second-oldest higher-education institution west of the Missis ...

Saint Charles, Missouri Saint Charles (commonly abbreviated St. Charles) is a city in, and the county seat of, St. Charles County, Missouri, United States. The population was 65,794 at the 2010 census, making St. Charles the ninth-largest city in Missouri. Situated on t ...

Career

Early years

Montgomery began her sporting career at the age of fifteen, when she checked out a practice for the newly formed wrestling squad at

East Technical High School East Technical High School or East Tech is a secondary school under the operation of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District in Cleveland, Ohio. History The school, when it opened on October 5, 1908, was the first public trade school in the cit ...

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

. Despite that the sport had been exclusively competed only by men, Montgomery joined and then trained full-time for the team under her head coach Kip Flanik. During her stellar high school career, she won the 2000 U.S. junior national title under the 68-kg division. After graduating from high school in 2001, Montgomery attended the

Williamsburg, Kentucky Williamsburg is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of Whitley County, on the southeastern border of Kentucky, United States. The population was 5,245 at the 2010 census. Developed along the Cumberland River, the city was founded in 18 ...

, where she competed for the Cumberlands Patriots wrestling club. During her collegiate career, she helped build the team into one of the top women's wrestling programs in the nation. She compiled a perfect 29–0 dual record, and also claimed the 2004 Women's Collegiate National Championship title in the 158-pound division. In 2006, Montgomery graduated from Cumberlands with a bachelor's degree in education.

Freestyle wrestling

In 2001, Montgomery joined the U.S. world wrestling team, and eventually earned her first senior berth at the

Sofia, Bulgaria Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

, where she took home the silver medal in the 68-kg division. On that same year, she became the first ever American to be named the ''Women's Wrestler of the Year'' by

USA Wrestling USA Wrestling (formerly known as the United States Wrestling Federation and as the United States Wrestling Association) is the organization that currently governs freestyle wrestling and Greco-Roman wrestling in the United States. USA Wrestling is ...

because of her outstanding success to the sport in her major international debut. While competing internationally, Montgomery achieved four U.S. junior and senior national titles (2001–2004), and obtained two Pan American championship trophies in 2002 and 2003. She also captured the gold medal over Canada's

Ohenewa Akuffo Ohenewa Akuffo is an Olympic freestyle wrestler for Canada. Ohenewa Akuffo is a Brampton, Ontario native who competed in Olympic-style wrestling for 20 years. Throughout her career as a high-performance athlete, Ohenewa has represented Canada i ...

in the 72-kg division at the

2003 Pan American Games The 2003 Pan American Games were held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, from August 1 to 17, 2003. The successful bid for the games was made in the mid-1990s, when Dominican Republic had one of the highest growth rates in Latin America. Al ...

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 ( Distrito Nacional) , webs ...

, and then picked up her second silver at the

New York City, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, falling short to Japanese wrestler and four-time defending champion

Kyoko Hamaguchi is a Japanese freestyle wrestling, freestyle wrestler. She has won five FILA Wrestling World Championships and two Olympic games, Olympic Bronze medals in the 72 kg weight class. She is sponsored by Japan Beverage Inc. ...

by a 4–1 deficit. Montgomery qualified for the U.S. women's wrestling squad on her major debut in the women's 72 kg class at the

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

. Earlier in the process, she won a silver medal at the World Championships, and then guaranteed her spot on the U.S. team by overwhelming her rival Kristie Marano from the Olympic Trials. Montgomery suffered another defeat from her longtime rival Hamaguchi in the opening match with a tough 4–8 decision, but wrestled her way to pin Bulgaria's

Stanka Zlateva Stanka Zlateva Hristova ( bg, Станка Златева Христова; born 1 March 1983 in Krushare, Sliven Province) is a retired female Bulgarian freestyle wrestler. She competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Ath ...

within the halfway mark of the six-minute limit to close the prelim pool. Despite missing a spot on the semifinals, Montgomery seized an opportunity to compete against Canadian wrestler and her former rival

Christine Nordhagen Christine Nordhagen (born June 26, 1971 in Valhalla Centre, Alberta, Valhalla, Alberta) is a former Canadians, Canadian wrestling, wrestler. Wrestling Nordhagen, who began wrestling at age 20, is a graduate of the University of Alberta. She has wo ...

in the classification match, but failed to overwhelm her for another time in the mat at 3–8, placing seventh in the final rankings. As she left the Olympic Games empty-handed, Montgomery made an early retirement from competitive wrestling at the age of 21, and instead turned her focus to being part of the coaching staff in Cumberlands.

Coaching

While attending the

, Montgomery helped build a women's wrestling program that had been immediately turned into one of the top sporting ventures in the

. Because of her enormous contribution to the needs of the nation's college sport programs, she was promoted to a full-time position as a graduate assistant coach for the Cumberlands Patriots wrestling squad upon her early retirement from the sport in 2004. After officially receiving her master's degree in instructional leadership from the Cumberlands in 2009, Montgomery accepted a major offer from

to serve as the head coach for the Lindenwood Lions, making her the third American woman to do so on the women's college varsity wrestling squad.

Personal life

Montgomery's parents are Tara and Paul Montgomery. When she was fifteen, her father, Paul pleaded guilty for double murder, and was sentenced to a 30-year to life imprisonment in southwestern Ohio.

References

External links

Profile – International Wrestling DatabaseLindenwood Lions Bio – Toccara Montgomery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Montgomery, Toccara 1982 births Living people American female sport wrestlers American wrestling coaches Olympic wrestlers of the United States Wrestlers at the 2003 Pan American Games Wrestlers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Sportspeople from Cleveland American sportswomen World Wrestling Championships medalists Pan American Games medalists in wrestling Medalists at the 2003 Pan American Games 21st-century American women