Improvement is the name of most any sport. Take wrestling for instance, especially in the case of Nick Montgomery.

As a freshman at Dolores County High School, Montgomery was just an average wrestler. He certainly wasn’t anything special. He had an 11-11 record his freshman year on the junior varsity. He was 16-18 his sophomore season. But by the time his junior season came around, he had quickly developed into an outstanding wrestler through hard work and dedication. He literally exploded on the mat. He was 30-7 and won the Regional championship at his weight. He finished second in State (Class 2A) in 1999 and went 39-3 this past season and finished third in his weight class, considered one of the toughest in 2A circles. He wrestled at 103 for his first three years and 112 pounds this past winter at DCHS.

As a result of his hard work and improvement on the mat, he was offered a scholarship to Adams State College in Alamosa. Because he is still young, 17, and still maturing, Montgomery will redshirt his first year and then have four years of eligibility after that. He will likely wrestle at 125.

"I received offers from Mesa State, UNC (University of Northern Colorado), USC (University of Southern Colorado), Western State, and Adams State. He received some interest from Colorado State University," Montgomery, who has a 3.4 grade point average, said.

"I knew I wanted to keep on wrestling after high school. Adams State has a good program. I want to go into sports medicine. I was going to go to CSU (without a scholarship) but I decided I wanted to keep wrestling. I sat and watched the team practice. I toured the facilities when I went for a visit in April. I got to meet most of the team and they seemed nice. I liked the school and decided that’s where I wanted to go," he reported.

Montgomery will join Travis Koppenhafer of Mancos and another wrestler from Ignacio who are on the team.

His best position on the mat was when he was starting down. He had good balance and was hard to take down.

"I didn’t have a very good shot so I didn’t shoot very much. But I led the team in takedowns," he said. "I also think I have a pretty work ethic."

Looking back on his high school career, he said he will miss going on trips and traveling with his teammates.

"I know I’m going to miss high school. I have a lot of friends here," he added.

"When he came here he was nothing more than an average wrestler," DCHS wrestling coach Shane Baughman said. "He really exploded his junior year. I think maturity had a lot to do with it and grasping what we talked and worked on in practice. I think as he matures more we will see what he has done here. He will steadily improve with each year. They are going to get him on weight program and should rapidly get stronger.

"He was very aggressive on the mat. He was constantly moving and making the advances. He didn’t have that many pins, but he scored a lot of match points (more than 250). He just went out and did what he needed to do. He became just plain hard to beat," Baughman added.

Looking ahead, Montgomery said he is looking forward to learning more about wrestling and other experiences.