Fantasy College Wrestling - 2024 Season Top-20 (157 lbs)

The data has been processed, the charts have been reviewed, and the evaluations are complete. The 2024 breakdown of the Top Fantasy Wrestlers of the 2024 season is here to help you start your 2025 season research.  

Just like in the past few years, some names are going to be expected, while a lot more may not be. That's the beauty of Fantasy Wrestling, where any wrestler can be the star of the weekend and win the dual for you.

To compile these lists, we used standard WrestleStat Fantasy College Wrestling Data & Scoring. Just a reminder of how points were tallied in WrestleStat leagues:

1) The scoring used was standard team scoring across all competitions (+3 for a win by decision, -4 for a loss by major, etc)

2) Scoring only counted against D1 competition

3) Wins via forfeits (FFT) would count as +6 towards a wrestler's point total

4) Wins or losses by medical forfeit (MFF) did not count as + or - towards a wrestler's point total

5) Points were only accumulated during the regular season
 

157 Top-20

Notes:

In 2022, he was the #2 Fantasy Wrestler at 157 and in 2023 he was the #4 Fantasy Wrestler. Finally, in 2024, Chase Saldate finds himself atop the ranks due in large part to the end of season stretch going 10-1 with six pins. 

One of Saldate’s four losses was Vince Zerban who, not only was #2 in the 157 Fantasy Wrestling rankings, but was #2 nationally for several weeks at the end of the season (and nationally ranked top-five for seven weeks). Zerban went 21-0 (his first two duals of the season were not against D1 schools, so uncountable) but only faced two wrestlers who ended up in the Top-20 National Rankings (Saldate at #20 and Cardenas at #8). High amount of matches against not a lot of top ranked competition, usually means high fantasy worth.

Speaking of Cardenas, Daniel Cardenas had four losses during the regular season, but was able to edge out Meyer Shapiro by one Fpt. Cardenas and Shapiro met early in the season at CKLV with Cardenas getting the victory (and thus the higher fantasy rank). Shapiro would have the last laugh though, beating Cardenas for 3rd at Nationals.

The only non-starter to make the 157 Top-20 was Central Michigan’s Mason Shrader who tied Colton Washleski in Fpts at 72 but bested the Bronc by 0.5 PPM. But for Washleski to end up at #6 in the Top-20 should not go overlooked. In 2023, he went 5-14 (-26 Fpts and #264 in the 157 Ranks).

Technically speaking, Paddy Gallagher is listed as a “non-starter” but wrestled into January as the 157 starter for OHST. Despite only one match in January and no matches in February to end the season, Paddy finished inside the Top-20 tied for 17th with Peyton Robb in Fpts and PPM.

National Champion Levi Haines comes in at #7  with the highest PPM in the Top-20 (4.4 PPM) in the least number of matches wrestled in the Top-20. Going a perfect 15-0 in the regular season, five of his wins came by decision with the rest by major. If he followed a similar trajectory to get to 20 matches, he probably would have finished at least second in the 2024 season ranks.

Powered by a regular-season bonus rate of almost 40% (in countable matches) and two losses by decision only, Peyton Kellar makes his second consecutive Top-20 at 157. This time, at #12 compared to his 2023 finish at #8.

Michael Blockhus returned to collegiate wrestling for one last ride and, while not reaching the podium in March, was able to put together a great fantasy run in the regular season. He tied national runner-up Jacori Teemer with 56 Fpts but takes the #15 spot with a 1 PPM better stat-line than Teemer.
 

Who Missed The Cut:

Two All-Americans miss the Top-20 in Bryce Andonian (VT) and Jared Franek (IOWA). Andonian finished with only 46 Fpts in large part due to having the regular season cut short by injury on January 7th, 2024 (loss by INJ to Shapiro). Had he, say, lost by only a decision and not wrestled the rest of the season, he would have finished with 49 Fpt and taken the #19 spot.

Franek, on the other hand, wrestled a full regular season, but only four of his 18 countable D1 matches were won by bonus (two techs and two majors). If non-D1 competitions were included in Fantasy Scoring, Franek would have had an additional 24 Fpts (all from the Luther Open).

Ohio State starter for the last part of the regular season and into the postseason, Issac Wilcox had five losses in his last 14 matches, accounting for -17 Fpts. Wilcox finished tied with Teague Travis but a lesser PPM of 1.8 lands him at #21.

Brock Mauller (MIZZ) and Lucas Revano (PENN) tied with 42 Fpts, with Mauler having the better PPM at 2.3 compared to Revano’s 1.6.

Other notables to miss the Top-20 include Joey Blaze (PUR) with 44 Fpts, Cael Swensen (SDSU) with 37 Fpts, Matt Bianchi (LR) with 36 Fpts, Cody Chittum (ISU) with 32 Fpts, and Brayton Lee (IND) with 20 Fpts in 6 matches.