GRIFFITH | "This is big," Griffith wrestling coach Travis Walls said. "This guy could be an Olympian."

Walls is referring to Angel Escobedo, a four-time state champion wrestler for the Panthers and 2008 NCAA 125-pound champion for Indiana University. This Tuesday and Wednesday, Escobedo will be one of the featured instructors at the Griffith Wrestling Club's commuter camp for all ages.

"He's giving back to the community," Walls said. "And not a lot of people fully realize the magnitude of what he has accomplished."

This will be Escobedo's second appearance at the annual commuter camp.

"I'll focus on the things I focused on when I was younger," Escobedo said. "Wrestling is not always glamorous. But if you stay at it, work hard, good things could happen."

Lately, a lot of good things have happened to Escobedo. In addition to defeating Minnesota rival Jayson Ness for the Region's first NCAA wrestling title in nearly 70 years, Escobedo went on to win the Northern Plains Trials at 121 pounds in Waterloo, Iowa, which qualified him for the 2008 Olympic Team Trials in freestyle on June 14 in Las Vegas.

Escobedo did all this while nursing a bum left shoulder.

"I'm eventually going to have to have surgery -- to tighten it up," said Escobedo, who was 34-1 as a redshirt sophomore for the Hoosiers. "But I can't pass (the trials) up."

Accompanying Escobedo at the camp will be IU teammate Andrae Hernandez, a two-time state champion at Griffith and a three-time NCAA qualifier. Escobedo and Hernandez are cousins.

"We're all very competitive," said Escobedo, who is also a cousin of former state champion and IU wrestler Jose Escobedo, now a rising mixed martial arts practitioner.

"We keep at each other, and that helps make us better."