Fantasy College Wrestling - 2024 Season Top-20 (197 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 will 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

197 Top-20

Notes:

The only weight class in 2024 that had two 100 Fpt wrestlers, and who actually met head-to-head the second week of the season.

Trent Hidlay took that match over Michael Beard at the Journeymen Classic by major, which is the difference between Hidlay being #1 and Beard being #2. Hidlay would start the season winning by bonus in 10 of his first 12 matches (comprising five techs and three pins). Going undefeated helped, and so did a stretch of five straight techs in the New Year as well.

The loss to Hidlay would be Beard’s only during the regular season. It would have a very similar bonus-filled record only to land four points shy of being #1. Of his 22 wins, only one was by decision and 15 via tech.

Campbell’s Levi Hopkins edges out Stephen Buchanan by two Fpts, in large part due to his extra 11 countable D1 matches. Hopkins had a handful of losses (six total, two by tech and two by major) which accounted for -24 Fpts, so those extra 11 matches really came in handy. Buchanan on the other hand, only had 19 countable D1 matches with one loss suffered. Of his 18 victories, only two were by decision, but that loss to Tanner Sloan doomed him to #4 in the Top-20.

His 2023 season was tragically cut short by injury, and we all thought that was the end of Lou DePrez’s career. Then, an early Xmas present turned up at the Sheridan Invitational. DePrez would go on to wrestle 20 matches in the regular season in only three months which vaulted high up the fantasy ranks. Having three of his matches won only by decision was the shortcoming in falling behind Buchanan to #5.

Since the 2020 season, Tanner Sloan has found himself within the Top-10 of the 197 Fantasy Ranks. Twice he has been the #1 Fantasy Wrestler at 197 (2021 & 2023 seasons), once the #1 overall (2021), and his lowest placing was in 2020 where he was 10th. In 2024 he fell one Fpt shy of overtaking Stephen Little for 6th place.

Your NCAA champion Aaron Brooks only wrestled in 14 matches, the least amount of any 197 wrestler in the Top-20 (by four matches, actually). He tied Nick Stemmet with 70 Fpts, who wrestled the most matches of any 197 wrestler in the Top-20 with 34. Brooks’ impressive 5.0 PPM over Stemmet’s 2.1 was the difference.

Some may say that Zach Glazier had one of the crazier storylines of the 2024 season.  From the 2020 season to 2023, Glazier was a total of 8-6 against D1 competition. 2024 was his first season as a starter for Iowa and went 16-1 against D1 competition. Despite this career-setting run, and making his way to #11 on the 197 Top-20, he might just be remembered for his AJ Ferrari match at Soldier Salute. Jacob Cardenas falls just behind Glazier by 0.3 PPM.

Gabe Sollars used his 12 pins to vault up to #15 while Princeton’s Luke Stout and Pitt’s Mac Stout wrestled the same number of matches but are separated by two Fpts.

Who Missed The Cut:

Only one wrestler who AA’d did not make the Top-20. Missouri’s Rocky Elam only wrestled in 11 matches and suffered two losses (one by pin). He finished with 24 Fpts.

John Poznanski (RUT) was the first guy out, amassing 45 Fpts in 14 matches. Two losses to end his regular season, one by SV-1 to #13 Garrett Joles. Had he won that match, Poz would have been #20 (and Joles down to #19).

Other notable wrestlers to miss the cut include Wyatt Voelker (UNI) with 43 Fpts, Aidan Conner (PRIN) with 41 Fpts, Martin Cosgrove (PENN) with 38 Fpts, Lucas Cochran (PSU) with 37 Fpts, and Joey Novak (WYO) with 36 Fpts.