Montemayor grabs NIU offer

Three of his wrestling brothers compete for the University of Illinois.

His real brother attends Northern Illinois University.

Oh, brother, that's a tough call.

"They're all nice," Grant senior Izzy Montemayor said of former high school teammates Joe Barczak, John Deneen and Jimmy Kennedy, all of whom wrestle in the Big Ten for the Illini.

"And Illinois seems like a great place, but NIU is the choice. It just seemed like a better fit."

So, Montemayor will graduate from Grant and wrestle for Northern coach Dave Grant. No word yet on whether Montemayor will reside at Grant Towers in DeKalb.

Montemayor gave a verbal commitment to Grant, who just recently agreed to a three-year contract extension. Montemayor had also drawn interest from Old Dominion.

The state runner-up at 125 pounds will become the latest product from Grant's wrestling factory to compete at the Division I level. The others also include the University of Iowa's Daniel Dennis and Jesse Linczmaier, who transferred to Northern after a stellar two-year career at Harper College.

Montemayor's brother Joel, who also wrestled for Grant, is a sophomore at NIU but does not compete for the Huskies.

"He likes (the university) a lot," Izzy Montemayor said. "He thinks it's the best fit for me."

Izzy Montemayor wrestled varsity for Grant coach Ryan Geist for four years and was a three-time state qualifier. He saved his best season for last, winning conference, regional and sectional titles.

He came oh-so close to winning a state title, as he dropped a 3-1 decision in the 125-pound final to Glenbard North's Tony Ramos last February.

The 5-foot-6 Montemayor advanced to the state final by upsetting top-seeded Ellis Coleman of Oak Park-River Forest 8-7 in the quarters and pinning Brother Rice freshman Malik Taylor in the semis.

"I knew I worked hard for it," Montemayor said. "I knew I had to beat Ellis Coleman to get to the finals and I overcame that and took second."

His performance at state certainly helped Montemayor's stock.

"Once I placed second, more (college) coaches looked at me and talked to me," Montemayor said. "It definitely helped."