Every year when the calendar flips to January, there's one local tournament that catches the eyes of wrestling fans all over the state.
Morro Bay High School is getting ready for the 66th annual Sam Boyd California Invitational Tournament Friday and Saturday.
Boyd, who was a longtime wrestling and football coach for the Pirates, began the C.I.T. in the 1950s.
Morro Bay will host 91 teams this year from California and Nevada, totaling 980 wrestlers in 14 different weight classes on 11 mats.
Morro Bay athletic director John Andree says it's a blessing for the school and the community to host one of the biggest and best wrestling tournaments in California.
"It's great to have a tournament like this that's so well-respected. We get to carry on after Sam Boyd who put this on for many years," Andree said. "We just keep putting out a quality product, and it shows with how many teams keep coming back that we're doing a pretty good job with that."
Action gets underway Friday at 10 A.M. and ends Saturday night with the championships.
