The sport of water polo has thrived in Turlock and the rest of the Central Valley since its introduction roughly 40 years ago by the late Steve Feaver.

From league championships to college scholarships, athletes have made names for themselves to varying degrees thanks to their talents and efforts in the pool. Recently, three former Turlock High athletes were recognized for their past efforts in the sport of water polo when the California Interscholastic Federation released its list of the CIF 100th Anniversary Fall All-Century Team.

The list — the top 100 Californian student-athletes from the past 100 years who received the most votes — was dominated by water polo athletes and included the names of  Debbie Bettencourt, Shelly Wilson and Shannon Tate who graduated from Turlock in 1985, 1988 and 1990, respectively.

In addition to being named to the team, Tate stood out as the student-athlete with the most votes, besting athletes like Marcus Allen and Tom Brady, with 1,254 votes.

Turlock wasn’t the only local school to be represented on the All-Century team, however. Seven water polo players from the Modesto area were also included in the top-100 list. Jed Robinson of Downey High, Terri Hollmann of Beyer High, Christine Zador and Wendy Watkins of Johansen High and Leigh Shupp, Christie Quigley and Andrea Mazza of Davis High were also recognized.

The complete list of the Fall All-Century Team can be found online at www.cifstate.org/100anniversary. Voting for the CIF 100th Anniversary Winter All-Century team will begin in December.