Kayden Cartee of Mayfair (white suit) takes down Andru Balladarez of Edison in the 215-pound finals at last year’s CIT wrestling tournament. Cartee won the match with a first-round pin. This year’s CIT is set for Jan. 23-24 at Morro Bay High. Photo by Neil Farrell
One of the biggest prep wrestling tournaments of the year is coming to Morro Bay High School next weekend.
Friday-Saturday, Jan. 23-24 marks the return of the California Invitational Tournament at MBHS, bringing over 30 teams and more than a thousand grapplers to town to battle it out in one of the more prestigious tournaments of the high school wrestling season.
The tourney utilizes 10 mats — seven in the new gym and three in the old gym — with 14 weight classes — from 109 pounds to 288 — in a double elimination competition.
On late afternoon Saturday, the top two wrestlers in each weight class will go head-to-head for the championship, grappling in the spotlight before a packed gym.
The tournament is a tribute to the late-Sam Boyd, Sr., a legendary wrestling, football and basketball coach for some 35 years at MBHS who started the CIT back in the 1970s. Originally, the CIT was held at Cal Poly and was brought to Morro Bay, where it has become a tradition.
Hosted by the Pirates, the CIT is put on by an army of volunteers, who track the bouts and keep the action going like clockwork culminating in the dramatic finals Saturday evening.
The4 CIT draws schools form across California an as far away as Merced and Turlock. It includes some fo the best programs in the state and some of the best wrestlers too. CIT typically features several State Finalists and even returning State Champions from the previous season.
Sam Boyd was the CIT Tournament Director for 20 years before his tragic death in a 2007 abalone diving accident off Ft. Bragg, Calif.
The CIT is also a boon for the local economy, filling up motel rooms and giving a winter boost to local restaurants, as all those hungry teenagers and their coaches and families have got to eat somewhere.
