I swam in high school, out of everyone who was on my club team, which had pretty serious commitments, I think about 90% had some doors opened for them with college that wouldn't have been there otherwise.
It isn't always a full ride at a D1 school (only true for 2 out of about 30), but many got into schools they wouldn't have otherwise, others received partial D1 scholarships, and many others received large "leadership" scholarships at private D3 schools.
All this to say, there are some real benefits in the college process to competing at higher levels of high school athletics. Even if all the student gets is to spend a night on campus, and meet the entire team, and see the campus as a student, there's some real value to that.
It isn't always a full ride at a D1 school (only true for 2 out of about 30), but many got into schools they wouldn't have otherwise, others received partial D1 scholarships, and many others received large "leadership" scholarships at private D3 schools.
All this to say, there are some real benefits in the college process to competing at higher levels of high school athletics. Even if all the student gets is to spend a night on campus, and meet the entire team, and see the campus as a student, there's some real value to that.