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Best Sports & Fitness

Best Athlete Leaving Others in Her Wake:
Makayla Haw
Ranked first in the nation and the world in slalom for water-skiers in her age group, and second in the nation and third in the world in the jump, this Rio Linda 16-year-old and St. Francis High School junior, who appeared in Sports Illustrated this past July, helped the U.S. Junior Water Ski Team win the overall team gold medal at the 2010 World Junior Water Ski Championships.

Best Mixed Martial Arts Grappler: Urijah Faber
Dubbed the “California Kid,” Urijah Faber—a two-time NCAA qualifier and the all-time win leader in Division 1 wrestling for UC Davis—is currently ranked the No. 4 featherweight champion in the world in mixed martial arts.

Best Reason To Get Up Early Thanksgiving Morning: Run To Feed the Hungry
This benefit for Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services is a win-win: Participants get a little pre-feast exercise in the form of a 5k walk/run or 10k run, and people in need get assistance in the form of food, clothing, mentoring, education and more via proceeds and, most especially, donations.

Best Spot To Be Asked “What’s Your Sign?”: Michael Mercury’s Astro Yoga Class at Yoga Loka
Noted local astrologer Michael Mercury not only gives an astrological forecast for the week during this 90-minute Hatha yoga class (held Sundays at noon), but participants who e-mail him their birth day and time receive a 25-page astrological report back.

Best Municipal Investment in Fitness: West Sacramento Recreation Center
This city-run facility—unique within the region because it shares space with a high school—operates like a gym, complete with exercise equipment, basketball court, climbing wall, swimming pool, child care and spacious locker rooms.

Best Reason To Cue “We Are the Champions”:
Jesuit High School’s Rugby Team
Currently the state champions, this Carmichael all-boys Catholic high school varsity rugby team ranked third in the USA Rugby National Championships this year, ranked first in the nationals four times in the previous five years and has 11 alumni players on Cal’s roster, the current collegiate champs.

Best New Football Team: Sacramento Mountain Lions
The United Football League’s Sacramento Mountain Lions—quarterbacked by former Minnesota Viking and three-time NFL Pro-Bowler Daunte Culpepper and coached by Dennis Green, also of Vikings fame—have finally brought pro football to town.

Best Between-Inning Distraction: The River Cats’ Hot Dog Cannon
Fans go wild at Raley Field when the hot dog cannon comes around partway through a Sacramento River Cats game, and the free dogs, sometimes wrapped in River Cats T-shirts, have been known to fly all the way into the nosebleeds.

Best Boosters:
Sacramento Kings’ Sign Lady and Mr. Sign Lady
Longtime Kings fans Barbara and Nick Rust, aka Kings Sign Lady and Mr. Sign Lady, show up to almost every home game wearing their “die hard fan” jerseys, toting handmade signs that show nothing but support for the team, even when times are tough. Their devotion has not gone unnoticed by the Kings: The two were inducted into the Kings Sixth Man Hall of Fame.

Best Gym for Those Who Dislike Mirrors: Bodytribe Fitness
What you will find in this eclectic midtown gym: rotating artwork (check it out on Second Saturdays), plants, abstract-looking light fixtures and sometimes a friendly dog or cat. But mirrors? Not here.