The surge in COVID-19 cases has led to the cancellation of the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions, a top girls water polo tournament that was scheduled to run Thursday through Saturday.
Santa Barbara girls water polo coach and tournament director Mark Walsh announced the cancellation Thursday morning, informing schools that the Santa Barbara Unified School District has “canceled all activities.”
The Santa Barbara district later confirmed that the reason was the rise in COVID-19 cases.
Laguna Beach and Newport Harbor were the top two seeds for the tournament, which originally featured a strong field of teams. Foothill, Mater Dei, Orange Lutheran, San Marcos, Los Alamitos and Agoura were other highly-seeded teams.
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Huntington Beach, Long Beach Wilson and The Bishop’s withdrew earlier in the week because of COVID-19 concerns.
The cancellation Thursday marked the second consecutive winter that the tournament was called off. The event was last held in January 2020.