2024 NCAA Preview: 197 lbs.
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Returning 2023 All-Americans in Bold
| Northeast 1 | Coy Spooner | Coast Guard |
| Northeast 2 | Dylan Harr | Johnson & Wales |
| Northeast 3 | Darby McLaughlin | Castleton |
| Mideast 1 | Jaedyn Harris | McDaniel |
| Mideast 2 | Keevon Berry | Centenary |
| Mideast 3 | Ryan Galka | Ithaca |
| Southeast 1 | Cameron Butka | Wilkes |
| Southeast 2 | Lorenzo Pellot | Roanoke |
| Southeast 3 | Gable Crebs | Lycoming |
| Central 1 | Demond Harrison | Albion |
| Central 2 | Luke Hopkins | Baldwin Wallace |
| Central 3 | Bryce McCloskey | Mount Union |
| Lower Midwest 1 | Massoma Endene | Wartburg |
| Lower Midwest 2 | Gage Linahon | Central |
| Lower Midwest 3 | Montgomery Mills | Westminster |
| Upper Midwest 1 | Gabriel Zierden | Concordia-Moorhead |
| Upper Midwest 2 | Ben Kawczynski | UW-La Crosse |
| Upper Midwest 3 | Parker Venz | Augsburg |
Both finalists are back at this weight in champ Massoma Endene of Wartburg and runner-up Coy Spooner of Coast Guard. Endene won 10-6 in last year’s finals and kept Coast Guard from having its first ever NCAA champion in wrestling. Both are undefeated and have swapped the top two seeds from last year’s tournament. Endene had little trouble in the regional. He had two tech falls and three falls, the last of which only took 14 seconds in the finals. He leads the current Most Dominant standings for DIII. Spooner had to work a little harder, beating JWU’s Dylan Harr 2-0 in the finals after defeating him 4-3 earlier in the season.
Harr is the only returning 2023 All-American here, placing 4th as an unseeded entry last year. He beat the the 5th, 6th, and 8th seeds after losing to Endene in the first round. Gable Crebs did not qualify for Lycoming last season, but he finished 7th in 2022. Ben Kawcyznski of UW-La Crosse did not qualify last year either, but he was in the bracket at 285 in 2022. Luke Hopkins was in the tournament last year, but he qualified two weight classes down at 174.
Returning to this weight is Parker Venz from Augsburg. The Auggies qualified eight wrestlers last year and come home with seven All-Americans. Venz was the one who missed the podium, after Harr eliminated him in the first consolation round. This year, he is determined to be wrestling on day two. Gage Linahon lost his first match here last year and then missed his first consolation match due to a misunderstanding about the schedule. He is making his third trip to the tournament and is looking for his first win.
Lorenzo Pellot’s brother Mauro qualified at this weight last year, and Lorenzo is in the bracket in 2024. The two were in the same region this year and could have met in the semifinals, but an injury in the previous round eventually forced #1 seed Mauro from the tournament, opening a path for #5 seed Lorenzo to make the finals and punch his ticket to La Crosse.