No Vacation for These Athletes; It’s Tournament Time

The holiday season might as well be renamed the tournament season for Southland high school athletes.

Dozens of events will be staged during the next two weeks in boys’ and girls’ basketball and soccer, girls’ water polo and wrestling.

Teams from several area schools will venture outside the state to compete, but the majority will be home for the holidays.

The following is a look at some of the showcase events on this week’s schedule of tournaments in the Southland:

BOYS’ BASKETBALL

Irvine World News Tournament

Tuesday-Saturday, Irvine, Northwood, University and Woodbridge highs and Concordia University: The tournament’s defending champion, University, is one of the host schools, but so is Woodbridge, and the Warriors are loaded. Returning Sea View League co-MVP Danny Lambert and Mater Dei transfer Patrick Haddan lead a deep Woodbridge team that includes Chris Burgess’ little brother David, a 6-foot-8 freshman. Others competing include Estancia, Huntington Beach, Dana Hills, Laguna Beach, Fountain Valley and La Quinta. From outside the county come Nogales, Jurupa Valley, Santa Fe Springs St. Paul and Alhambra Keppel.

Trabuco Hills Reebok Tournament

Tuesday-Saturday, Trabuco Hills: The county’s second-ranked team, Santa Margarita, heads a strong field that includes Costa Mesa, Laguna Hills, Aliso Niguel and Trabuco Hills. The out-of-county entrants are Glendale Hoover, Carson, Fontana Miller, Palos Verdes Chadwick and Stockdale.

Rim Rattler

Holiday Hoops Invitational

Today-Friday, Long Beach State and Long Beach Poly: Stanford-bound Josh Childress of Lakewood Mayfair is one of the marquee players in a tournament that also includes Inglewood, Long Beach Poly, Pasadena, Rialto Eisenhower and Compton Centennial. Durham (N.C.) Mt. Zion, New York Rice, Miami Senior and Boston English are among the out-of-state entrants.

Pacific Open

Tuesday-Friday, L.A. Washington High: Los Angeles Jordan will try to defend its title in this eight-team tournament that also includes Washington, Manual Arts, Jefferson, Hollywood, Lincoln and magnet schools USC-MAST and Foshay. The marquee player in the tournament is UCLA-bound Andre Patterson of Washington.

GIRLS’ BASKETBALL

San Clemente Holiday Tournament

Today-Wednesday, San Clemente High: Three of the county’s top 10 teams are featured, including the host, fourth-ranked San Clemente, which upset top-ranked Troy last week. Huntington Beach and Irvine should give the Tritons a run for the title, along with Rancho Bernardo, Murrieta Valley, Cerritos, Laguna Hills and Corona del Mar.

Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions

Today-Saturday, Santa Barbara (various sites): Mythical national titles, such as the one Harbor City Narbonne won last season when it finished atop USA Today’s poll, used to be decided in part by how teams fared in the elite division of this tournament. But this year, most of the nationally-ranked teams, including Narbonne, are traveling to Chicago for an event the same week. The Santa Barbara tournament remains one of the best in the state, however, with Troy, Ventura Buena and Lynwood among the Southland teams participating.

BOYS’ SOCCER

Brea Olinda Tournament

Tuesday-Saturday, Brea Olinda High: The field includes the county’s top-ranked team, Woodbridge, 10th-ranked Dana Hills, Anaheim, Servite, Fullerton, Brea, Villa Park, Orange Lutheran, Sunny Hills, Sonora, Chino, Jurupa Valley, West Hills Chaminade, La Mirada, Diamond Bar and Chino Hills Ayala.

Magnolia Tournament

Tuesday-Saturday, Magnolia High: The field includes Bolsa Grande, Cerritos, Corona del Mar, Costa Mesa, Garden Grove, Kennedy, La Quinta, Loara, Magnolia, Norwalk Glenn, Ocean View, Rancho Alamitos, Santiago, Savanna and Laguna Beach.

GIRLS’ SOCCER

Ocean View Tournament

Saturday-Dec. 19, Ocean View High and Golden West College: The field includes Calvary Chapel, Irvine, Laguna Beach, Mater Dei and Ocean View.

WRESTLING

Brea Olinda Tournament

Friday-Saturday, Brea Olinda High: A number of Orange County’s ranked teams will be participating, including No. 3 El Dorado, No. 6 Dana Hills and No. 7 Loara. Rounding out the field will be Anaheim, Bellflower, Brea Olinda, Diamond Bar, La Habra, Lompoc, Orange Lutheran, Rancho Cucamonga, Riverside Ramona, San Diego, San Dimas, Troy, West Covina and Westminster.