Kids, especially in wrestling, are often 19 when graduating HS. I can't think of many times recently where the 'studs' of U20 are competing after their 2nd season of college at U20s. That would insinuate that they turn 21 before the year end (which would be beginning of the 3rd college season). Meaning even though their 2nd season out ends in March, they are turning 21 before ~Christmas of that year. If that holds as true then what also would hold as true is that they would be 19 two years prior. Also meaning that when most schools end (End of May/June which is ~40% of the calendar year) a lot of 'kids' are going to be grown ass adults at the ripe young age of 19 and graduating.
That is the state of now, not 1954 or 1984. That is 2024. It has been that way for quite a while, even.
Hell, one of my boys, when wrestling Juniors as a Junior in HS (he turned 16 years old as a Junior) wrestled a 'local phenom' (when we traveled SW Michigan for tourneys) who was an 8th grader quite a few times because he would age himself up from Cadets. When the kid was a Frosh and my son a Senior we saw him a lot more times so we got to talking to his parents and him and found out that he was actually only two months younger than my son, yet three years behind in school. He didn't start school until he was five (turned 6) in kindergarten then was held back by his parents in 8th for one year to get a leg up on some age level stuff. This wasn't at some uber-elite school in Michigan, it was Stevensville Lakeshore of Southwest Michigan. The kid was good but fizzled and faded out by the time he was a senior with HEW, but the moral still stands that this is common. Anyone who doesn't think or know that as truth just hasn't had any of their own children (or grandchildren) actually in the programs or they haven't thought to get to know the parents of the kids their kin are facing.
Also, with Mark Hall? He was in Kentucky and wrestled three years there (7th/8th/8th) before heading to Minnesota. 7th and 8th graders can wrestle in the high school states tournament there. HS eligibility doesn't start until they're in 9th grade and kids can be held back by their parents for social or educational reasons (either) in middle school still. He was 19 when he graduated.
Also, also, it really isn't that different with what some programs are now doing with a 'gap' year prior to their redshirt year (ahem - Penn State).