My daughter attended a high school that had a 32 game losing streak during the two years before she played. No one remembered the last time the team had a winning record. She was part of four straight conference championships.
When my son got to high school baseball had seventeen losing seasons in the previous twenty years. He played on two conference champions and a second place finish.
Both these programs remained quality programs after they left. They were proud to be part of a new, winning tradition. That said, their travel teams got them to college softball and baseball. But they did demonstrate playing high school sports they could time manage and balance academics and athletics.