Austin is home to some of the state’s most athletically competitive high schools. Titans such as Bowie, Lake Travis, and Westlake dominate in 6A sports, with the last having sent three quarterbacks to the NFL, two of whom won super bowl MVP. In 5A, LASA competes against programs that boast reputations of success making for tight games against rivals like Anderson and McCallum. Among these giants, however, schools like LASA have historically had lesser success competing against more sport-focused campuses. While this may once have been accurate, the growth of LASA’s population and an increased focus on not only academic but also athletic success is seeing this shift.
Many athletes at LASA don’t feel that academics are the only thing that LASA students excel at. Mauro Garza, a sophomore and member of boys soccer, a program that has boasted winning seasons in the past few years, supported this notion.
“Maybe a person that doesn’t go to LASA thinks all we focus on is grades in school,” Garza said. “People can still be good at sports while being good at other things too.”
While Garza believes that it’s too soon to tell if there’s been a shift in the narrative, the opinions of athletes at other schools say otherwise. Cincy Sandel, a player on McCallum’s varsity ultimate team, alleged that that view is indeed shifting.
“I think there is a narrative towards LASA being bad at sports because they excel in education, so other schools think they’re worse,” Sandel said. “[But] through LASA’s performances in sports like basketball and ultimate frisbee, which are just the ones I’ve watched, they are definitely changing the narrative.”
Sandel doesn’t believe that this has been a small change, either. According to him, McCallum has begun to view LASA as a serious contender in many sports.
“Recently, I think [we’ve] changed to viewing them as good opponents in almost every sport,” Sandel said. “It definitely has made me analyze and watch their sports more [for] when they play McCallum.”
He also alleges that, in certain areas, LASA is the best in the city. As an ultimate frisbee player, Sandel noted the nerves that come around playing the LASA Vertikills, who placed second at State in 2025.
“In my sport, ultimate frisbee, LASA has always been really good, they’re probably the best in Austin, so they’re always pretty intimidating,” Sandel said. “I always view them as a big game because of how good they are.”
This shift isn’t coincidental, though. According to Garza, this has occurred due to conscious action from the school’s athletes.
“I mean, I feel like anybody in sports wants to do the best that they can,” Garza said. “So, yeah, it’s a deliberate [effort].”
More evidence for the change can be found in the preconceptions of the school’s less informed nonathletes. This includes Shaoyu Wang, a LASA student who doesn’t participate in any athletic extracurriculars.
“I don’t think there is a narrative that LASA is necessarily bad at sports,” Wang said. “I never got the impression that LASA is a sports school … yet [we] seem to be doing pretty well.”
However, despite the school’s growing reputation as a serious contender in sports spaces, the consensus of Austin’s students still seems to be that LASA remains an academically oriented school, not sports focused one.
“I wouldn’t describe LASA as a sports school,” Garza said. “It focuses on Academics more than extracurricular activities.”
This sentiment is shared with those who have an outside perspective of LASA. Sandel, through connections at LASA, has formed a similar opinion to Garza.
“I would view LASA as more of an academic school from the things I have heard, despite them having good sports teams,” Sandel said. “They excel in education.”
LASA’s athletic success may be gaining recognition, but most observers within the school still see academics coming first. Despite following LASA’s tennis team, which frequently places well at competitions, Wang’s thoughts were much the same regarding LASA’s reputation.
“The only sports program that I really pay attention to is tennis, and they seem to be doing pretty well,” Wang said. “My main focus at LASA is academics, and while sports are fun to watch or play they don’t [change] my experience at LASA.”
With girls basketball making a showing at playoffs and both soccer teams expecting to follow suit, LASA continues to make an impact in 5A UIL sports. Though competition and rosters can be turbulent, athletes are making it clear that LASA can boast more than stellar academics.
