is a non-Profit 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization that financially provides opportunities for athletes of all age levels in training, education, and competition to promote the Olympic dream.
The Indiana Regional Facility is located at the brand new state of the art Wilkinson Hall. We are comprised of a community of wrestling fans, supporters, and athletes, from across the country that give of their time, talents, and financial resources fueling the Olympic Dream for the benefit of Indiana Wrestling.
The Indiana RTC annual operating budget is used to provide our athletes the opportunity to become World and Olympic Champions. The opportunity to achieve their championship dreams. The Operating Budget is 100% funded by donations from our supporters, no other funding is available. The organization focuses on our athletes, giving them the environment to be their absolute best. Our operating budget is spent on our Athletes (stipends & housing), Coaches and training expenses. The goal is to continue to become one of the best training centers in the United States for World and Olympic Wrestling. Contributions are tax deductible through Indiana RTC or our partnering Fiscal Sponsor. A year end statement can be provided upon request.
The Pin Pool and Weight class sponsorship program is an ideal way for wrestling fans to support the Indiana RTC, while tracking your favorite team and wrestlers.
Our goal is to earn $400 per pin! For supporters who are unfamiliar, the pin pool is a wrestling-focused fundraiser that we use to supplement our annual operating budget for numerous additional opportunities for our guys. Example: You Pledge 1.00 Per Pin, The Team gets 70 pins on the season, you pay 70.00. Indiana RTC members ended the 2022-2023 season with 59 pins, we believe the guys will bring that number up this season! All pin pool members will receive a 2023-2024 Pin Pool T shirt.
All gifts are tax-deductible, and members will receive monthly updates via email from Indiana RTC coach, Angel Escobedo on the running total.
Pin pool members will not fulfill pledges until the end of the season when Indiana Executive Director Brian Anderson reaches out to each supporter via email with pledge fulfillment information.
Being a weight class sponsor allows you to support your old weight class or support your favorite Indiana RTC wrestler! Our goal is to have each of the ten weight classes with sponsors behind them. We will not limit each weight class to one sponsor. By sponsoring a weight class, you get 4 premium seats at each of the Home duals and entrance to all pre-dual home socials.
Current Weight Class Sponsors
Date: Every Monday and Wednesday
Location: Assembly Hall
Time: 6:30pm - 8:00pm
Cost: $100.00/month
The INDIANA RTC Youth program is based out of the IU RTC non-Profit 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. The intent of this program is to give young wrestlers from all clubs in the area an opportunity to practice in the IU room. The program is not intended to be its own club, but rather to partner with clubs in the area to help their athletes grow as wrestlers. The practices will be overseen by former IU wrestler Paul Konrath and will also feature wrestlers from the IU team. We are excited to hopefully take part in the growth of wrestling in the area and the state of Indiana as a whole.
Coach
Paul Konrath - Arrived at IU the No. 16 recruit in the nation at 132 pounds by The Open Mat and No. 20 by FloWrestling. Paul was a FLO National Champion, Fargo Cadet Freestyle Champion, and Cliff Keen Folkstyle national champion.
Dates: Saturday July 20, 2024
Location: Cascades Golf Course
Time: Registration 12:30pm / Shotgun Start 2:00pm
Cost: $100 Individual/$400 Foursome
Sponsorships also available
One of the most successful wrestlers in Indiana University history, Angel Escobedo became the eighth head coach in program history on April 6, 2018.
Escobedo assumed the reins of the program after spending one year as IU’s associate head coach along with three years on the Iowa State staff.
“We are very excited about the future of Indiana Wrestling under Angel’s leadership,” IU Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Fred Glass said. “As a wrestler, he excelled at the high school, collegiate and international levels. As a coach, he has mentored All-Americans and NCAA qualifiers. With a new state-of-the-art $17 million facility set to open, Angel is the right person to lead the program into this new, exciting era.”
A native of Gary, Ind., Escobedo was a dominant wrestler for the Hoosiers from 2007-10. As a sophomore, he won the 2008 NCAA title at 125 pounds, and he captured Big Ten titles in the weight class three times (2008-10). He’s the program’s only four-time All-American, and his 137 career wins (second) and 42 pins (third) rank among the best in IU history.
After wrapping up his IU career in 2010, Escobedo competed internationally and was a member of Team USA. Among his top performances was a fifth-place finish at the 2013 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, and a second-place finish at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto.
While training full-time for the international circuit, he spent three years on Iowa State’s coaching staff from 2015-17, where he helped develop a handful of the Cyclones’ lightweight wrestlers into national contenders. Among his most notable wrestlers was two-time All-American and four-time NCAA qualifier Earl Hall.
He plans to make Indiana a force in the nation’s premier college wrestling conference, the Big Ten.
“It's having that IU logo on your chest when you're wrestling," Escobedo said. "I want to put the state Indiana back on the map of collegiate wrestling and I've always wanted to make Indiana known for what it is: a great state for wrestling.”
Angel and his wife, Pauli, have three children – Malachi, Saniyah, and Zoe.
Riley Lefever begins his first season with Indiana wrestling in 2021.
Lefever, who grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana, wrestled at Wabash College, where he was a four-time DIII National Champion (three times at 184 and once at 197).
Lefever posted a 158-6 record at Wabash and graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in English. He was a team captain and a CoSIDA First Team Academic All-American. Lefever earned two NCAA DIII Most Domination Wrestler awards and was also a junior national team member in freestyle.
Lefever graduated from Wabash in 2017 and moved to State College, Pa., to train freestyle with the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club for the last five years.
In 2018 he earned the bronze medal at the Dave Schultz International Memorial tournament at 92kg and bronze medal at the Outstanding Ukrainian Tournament. In 2019 he earned third place in the World Team Challenge Tournament.
Brian Anderson took over as the Wabash College wrestling coach for the 2004-2005 season and has fashioned one of the top Division III programs in the nation.
Anderson guided Wabash to second place at the 2022 NCAA Division III National Wrestling Tournament, its best finish in program history while finishing one point behind national champion Wartburg College. Five Little Giants earned All-America honors with Carlos Champagne, Kyle Hatch, and Jack Heldt finishing in second place in each of their respective weight classes. Heldt was also named the 2022 NCAA Elite 90 Award recipient for the Division III Wrestling Championships as the student- athlete competing at the championships with highest cumulative grade-point average. Heldt, Grant Johnson, and Tyson Nisley were recognized as Scholar All- Americans by the National Wrestling Coaches Association, while Wabash was named a Scholar All-America Wrestling Team by the organization. All-American Chase Baczek was named to the 2022 D3wrestle.com All-Freshmen Team. Anderson ended the season as the 2022 NCAA Division III Wrestling Coach of the Year, D3wrestle.com Coach of the Year, and NCAA DIII Central Region Coach of the Year.
The Little Giants finished tenth at the 2023 NCAA championships. Senior Jack Heldt capped his career by winning the 285-pound title. Chase Baczek joined Heldt as an All-American by placing seventh at 184 pounds. Wabash sent six of its ten regional entries to the national championship tournament.
Anderson spent two years as an assistant at Manchester College, where he helped the program produce seven national qualifiers and three All-American wrestlers. The Spartans produced a 15th place finish at the NCAA Division III National Championship meet in 2003 and an 18th place finish last season with his assistance.
Anderson wrestled for four seasons at Manchester, graduating in 1999 before heading to Michigan City High School as the head wrestling coach for three years. While wrestling at Manchester, Anderson helped the squad to two sixth-place finishes at nationals while picking up more than 100 victories in his career. He was two-time Indiana Collegiate Athletic Conference champion and earned a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference title at 184 pounds. In 1999 he was an Academic All- American and earned the Manchester College Senior Leadership Academic Award. He also received the 1999 Jim Gratz Leadership Award.
He and his wife, Lauren, reside in Crawfordsville. They have three daughters, Brynn, Kelsey, and Annabel.
Blake joined the RTC staff in 2022. Blake wrestled at The Ohio State University 2005-2007, where he became an NCAA Qualifier before injury ended his career. Prior to wrestling in college, Blake was one of the most accomplished Indiana High School athletes of all time, winning 4 IHSAA State Championships and earning multiple All-American honors at Fargo and finishing his high school career #1 in the country. Since college, Blake opened Maurer Coughlin Wrestling Club where he has coached many State Champions, National Champions, and All Americans.
“I am grateful for this opportunity to work with such talented athletes and coaches. The Indiana RTC is a great opportunity for any wrestler who is serious about trying to make world and Olympic teams. I cannot wait to see what the future holds for this RTC, with all the amazing resources that this place has.”
Dixon coached on the Indiana staff under Escobedo in the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons and is an Indiana Wrestling alumnus, graduating in 2001. He was a past coach at Old Dominion university, James Madison University, the University of Indianapolis, and prior high school coach at Arsenal Tech in Indianapolis.
Prior to his return, Dixon worked as the Director of Wrestling and Enrichment for the wrestling club, Beat The Streets Chicago. The organization’s mission focuses on helping Chicago-area youth from age five to 18 develop and compete in the sport of wrestling, while also teaching valuable life skills. He started working for the club in September 2020.
Following his time at Beat The Streets Chicago, Dixon is back in his previous role at Indiana as associate head coach.
In his time as a student, Dixon was a 2001 graduate of Indiana University with a degree in management from the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Dixon was an NCAA qualifier at 275 lbs. in 1998. He earned the team's Most Improved Wrestler award in 1998 and the prestigious Billy Thom Leadership award in 2001. Also in the 2001 season, Dixon became a University National Freestyle Champion and earned a fourth-place finish in the 2001 Pan-American Games at 97kg.
Max Lacey is a great addition to the RTC. Lacey comes to the Indiana RTC from West Liberty University. While there, he helped lead West Liberty to a team trophy at the 2021 DII NCAA Wrestling Championships.
Before that, he was an assistant coach at Wheeling Jesuit. At Wheeling Jesuit, Lacey was able to help the Cardinals bring home a Runner-Up trophy in the 2019 DII National Championships.
Lacey has also been a World Team member for Costa Rica in 2019, 2020, and 202. He is also a two time Pan American Championships medalist. RTC coach, Angel Escobedo, is super excited to have Lacey in the program and is looking forward to what he is bringing to the RTC.
Blake joined the RTC staff in 2022. Blake wrestled at The Ohio State University 2005-2007, where he became an NCAA Qualifier before injury ended his career. Prior to wrestling in college, Blake was one of the most accomplished Indiana High School athletes of all time, winning 4 IHSAA State Championships and earning multiple All-American honors at Fargo and finishing his high school career #1 in the country. Since college, Blake opened Maurer Coughlin Wrestling Club where he has coached many State Champions, National Champions, and All Americans.
“I am grateful for this opportunity to work with such talented athletes and coaches. The Indiana RTC is a great opportunity for any wrestler who is serious about trying to make world and Olympic teams. I cannot wait to see what the future holds for this RTC, with all the amazing resources that this place has.”
The Indiana RTC is made possible through the generous donations from the following sponsors:
