TWIN BRIDGES, Calif. – The Tahoe Basin Ski League alpine ski season is now underway with North Tahoe High School winning overall team at the first giant slalom race on Jan. 7 at Sierra-at-Tahoe.

“It wasn’t an easy race, by any stretch,” NTHS head coach, Gretchen Lancaster Sproehnlef said. “For some of our kids, it was the first time they had been in a course this year. We had wind, snow, and pretty big ruts. They really rose to the challenge though, we are proud of them.”

In addition to NTHS, teams including South Tahoe, Incline, Truckee, Whittell, Douglas, Carson, and Sierra Lutheran High Schools persevered through challenging conditions.

South Tahoe followed North Tahoe in the overall team division with Incline placing third. Truckee took the girls’ 1st place position, followed by North Tahoe in 2nd and South Tahoe in 3rd. In the boys’ team division, North Tahoe claimed 1st, followed by South Tahoe and Incline.

South Tahoe’s Max Fish (69.38) won the boys’ individual top spot almost two seconds ahead of Tanner Michejda (71.19) of North Tahoe in 2nd. Luke Lombardi (72.66) of Incline followed in 3rd.

Truckee’s Cali Byrnes claimed the girls’ top spot with a combined time of 69.03 in a competition where the top five competitors were within less than a second of each other and the top four beat the boys. Byrnes was followed by two North Tahoe athletes, Ashlyn James (69.11) in 2nd and Addison Jones (69.14) in 3rd.

It was a slow start to the season with the first two races cancelled, followed by holiday break. Racers have five more competitions ahead before state championships at the end of February.