( Formerl yTulareTownandCountry) Since19461675N. GemStreet• Tulare, CA•( 559) 685- 90300000127853• AlltypesofAerobic, CyclingandJazzerciseClasses• AlwaysFunfortheKids• CorporateDiscounts• Woman- OnlyCircuit• LargestFreeWeightRoomintheValley• FitnessEvaluationsandWorkoutProgramscomewithMembership• HallRental: Weddings, AnniversariesandQuinceañeras$ 0enrollmentwiththisadGoaheadandhelpyourselftoafitlife! » PoolDesign » Remodelingofexistingpools » Allrepairs, filters, pumps, lights » PoolMaintenance » WaterFeatureDesign » LandscapingDesign » FirePits » Ponds559.733.4838• www. allseasonspools. bizCustomPoolsforALLSEASONSCalif. Lic# 5484410000127834living here SPORTSBY MARK A. PEINADOmpeinado@ visalia. gannett. comor the past few years, Tulare County hasbeen a haven for Cen- tral Section champi- onships. Whether it's footballwhere the county haswon the Division IItitle three straightyears — Mt. Whitney ( 2006), El Dia- mante ( 2007) and Tulare Union ( 2008) — or it's baseball, basketball, crosscountry, tennis ( boys and girls) or soft- ball, teams from Tulare to Dinuba toPorterville have been champions. For some schools like El Diamante, it's about excelling in multiple sports. Take the 2007- 08 sports season. TheMiners won the Division II boys andgirls water polo titles and they won theDivision II title in football. In wrestling, David Watts took second place in thestate; in tennis, Josh Lorentzen was therunner- up in the singles final. Also, thesoftball team was runner- up in DivisionII. But the Miners aren't the only suc- cessful school around town. Look what Redwooddid in one week'stime in the fall of2008. The Rangersgirls won the Divi- sion II tennis title, Gabrielle Gatewoodswept through thesingles for hersecondstraightindividualtitle, JustinVilhauerwon anindivid- ual titleand heled theteam to aDivision II teamtitle and theRangers girls water polo team won theDivision III title. Other schools that have madenoise in the playoffs and have wonValley titles over the last fewyears include Tulare Union( football, soccer, softball), Tulare Western ( soccer), Exeter ( volleyball), Mt. Whit- ney ( football, cross country, baseball), Farmersville( soccer) and Lindsay( soccer). The public schoolsaren't the only ones whocan dominate the prepsports scene as CentralValley Christian hasshown itself to be toughin numerous sports. TheCavaliers are alwaysstrong in volleyball [ they were the staterunner- up in Division V], soccer ( theteam just its run of five consecutive Val- ley titles halted) and just in March, theboys basketball team won the DivisionV championship. So whether it's the small schools likeCVC and Exeter or the big boys of Red- wood, El Diamante or Tulare Union, teams across Tulare County are alwayson the hunt for league titles and Valleychampionships. And come fall, one more school getsthrown in the mix as Mission Oak inTulare goes varsity. That will not onlymake things more interesting in Tularebut in the county as well. Of course that addition also gives thearea another contender for a Valleychampionship, which lately, has becomea normal occurrence in the county. Prep sports in Tulare County sport many championsFExeter's senior Libero Sabina Lopez, left, is the 2008 Times- Delta/ Advance- Register Tulare County girls volleyball player of the year. Next to her is AlanaMontgomery, the 2008 Times- Delta/ Advance- Register coach of the year. Steve R. Fujimoto51| May 21, 2009| LIVING HERE

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