For questions such as this I am generally of the opinion that students should do whatever feels right for that particular student. Then find a university that is a good fit for whatever the student has done.
This assumes that “responsible behavior” and “taking academics seriously” is a given, and that “whatever is right for the student” does involve something that is constructive (which could be either an AP class or a sport).
This has worked out so far for us. We still have one daughter thinking of attending some (so far unspecified) graduate program in the future so I suppose we still have yet to see how well it works next time that it comes up.