[3] 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 in Cleveland.

[10][11] 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 within the halfway mark of the six-minute limit to close the prelim pool.

[12] Despite missing a spot on the semifinals, Montgomery seized an opportunity to compete against Canadian wrestler and her former rival Christine Nordhagen in the classification match, but failed to overwhelm her for another time in the mat at 3–8, placing seventh in the final rankings.

[13][14] 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.

While attending the University of the Cumberlands, Montgomery helped build a women's wrestling program that had been immediately turned into one of the top sporting ventures in the United States.