Three Orange County schools and one from the Bay Area have been tabbed the top four seeds for the Santa Barbara Invitational boys water polo tournament.
Twenty–two teams are entered in the three-day event, which will be played at Santa Barbara High, Dos Pueblos and San Marcos.
The action starts Thursday with six play-in games, featuring the three local entries.
Dos Pueblos opens against Crean Lutheran at 3 p.m. at DP. The winner moves into the main draw and faces No. 2 seed Corona del Mar on Friday at noon at DP.
San Marcos follows DP with a 4 p.m. game against San Luis Obispo, with the winner playing Laguna Beach on Friday at noon at the Santa Barbara pool.
The host Dons take on Alta Loma in a Thursday play-in game at 3 p.m., with the winner drawing Mountain View-St. Francis on Friday at Dos Pueblos.
The other play-in games are Redlands East Valley against St. Ignatius (at DP, 5 p.m.), Mira Costa vs. Arroyo Grande (at SBHS, 4 p.m.) and La Serna vs. Garces Memorial (at SBHS, 5 p.m.)
Friday’s first-round of games will start at noon and run every hour through 7 p.m. at Dos Pueblos. The action at Santa Barbara starts at 9 a.m., and at noon at San Marcos (for the play-in losers).
The semifinals are at 8 a.m. and 9:05 a.m., on Saturday at Santa Barbara and the final is slated for 1:25 p.m.
Huntington Beach, ranked third in Orange County and led by UC Irvine-committed center Ethan Spoon is the tournament’s No. 1 seed. The Oilers beat Corona del Mar in the final of the state high school summer championships.
No. 2 Corona del Mar boasts a senior-heavy team, led by Charles Warmington and UCLA commit Camren Simoncelli. The Sea Kings are ranked fourth in Orange County.
Perennial power Mater Dei is the third seed and North Coast Section power Bellarmine Prep of San Jose is the fourth.
Also in the tournament are Westlake, Ventura, Orange Lutheran, Damien and La Serna.