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 $250 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 2023-2024 season with 56 pins, we believe the guys will bring that number up this season! All pin pool members will receive a 2024-2025 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.
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.
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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.
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.
After serving two seasons as a volunteer assistant coach, Red was promoted to a full-time assistant coach in July 2024. The 2024-25 season will be Red’s third total year on Indiana’s staff.
In 2023-24, he helped the program elevate its status yet again. The team enjoyed a 7-5 dual record, a 3-5 Big Ten mark, two ranked dual victories, six NCAA qualifiers (the most for the program since 2010), and a 26th place tie at NCAAs (the best finish since 2016).
His work with the lower to middleweights proved to be particularly fruitful, as five of Indiana’s six NCAA qualifiers were from 133-165 lbs.
The 2022-23 season marks C.J. Red's first on the Indiana Wrestling coaching staff. In year one, Red helped Indiana's program make big strides. The Hoosiers' 8-5 record in 2022-23 was the team's best since 2016-17, that included three Big Ten wins and three ranked victories, as well.
Red provided valuable experience of wrestling at the highest stage and in recent time, after just finishing his collegiate career in March 2022. He worked closely with Indiana's light and middleweights and helped push Graham Rooks (149 lbs.) to have the best season for an Indiana wrestler since 2017.
Rooks went 29-11 and reached the Round of 12 at his third career NCAA Championships. This was the furthest an Indiana Wrestler had gone in the tournament since 2017 when Nate Jackson got eighth place at 184 lbs. Rooks also finished in fifth place at the Big Ten Championships.
Red, an Indiana native, returns to his home state after completing his highly successful collegiate wrestling career at Nebraska this past spring.
At Nebraska, Red was a standout in the lineup at 141 lbs. throughout his entire career from 2016-2022. Red was a three-time NCAA All-American ––– earning sixth place at the 2021 NCAA Championships, as well as eighth place in 2019 and seventh place in 2018. In total, he was a five-time NCAA Championships qualifier from 2018-2022.
Additionally, Red earned multiple podium finishes at the Big Ten Championships over the years. He finished in second place in 2019, third in 2020, fourth in 2021, and seventh place in 2018.
For his Cornhusker career, Red had a 98-46 overall record and a 39-20 dual record. He won 22 bouts via fall with five tech falls and nine major decisions to his name.
The move to the Indiana coaching staff will be Red’s first coaching role in his professional career.
Prior to competing at Nebraska, Red had a legendary high school wrestling career. He attended New Palestine High School where he wrestled for coach Chad Red Sr.
Red went 183-0 in his prep days, including being a four-time state champion. He was deemed the top 132-pounder in the country according to the Asics FloRankings in the class of 2016. He won the 2015 FloNationals crown, was the 2014 Super 32 champion, and 2014 Fargo Junior Cadet Nationals champion, all at 126-lbs.
4X NCAA National Qualifier (2020, 2021, 2023, 2024)
The Indiana RTC is made possible through the generous donations from the following sponsors:
