@Lemonlee My D19 looked at a few of these schools and she knew going in that her times were very good for the teams (swimming). The schools value demonstrated interest so we visited, toured, and met the coaches. We loved everything about the LAC vibe and low-key recruiting. I don’t think that the coaches have any admissions pull and they were very upfront about that. The good news is that you can apply whenever you see fit. But if the sport is very competitive or limits the number of athletes on the team, you’ll need to ask the coach directly about your son’s spot on the team.
In my D’s case, we needed to compare merit offers so she applied EA.