North Tahoe’s Kacey Benjaminson concluded last week’s two-day Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association Tahoe Basin Ski League state championships by wrapping up the combined state title to go along with slalom gold and a giant slalom second-place finish.

Benjaminson opened up the state championships at Alpine Meadows on Feb. 10 by outpacing the field by more than two seconds to finish with a combined time of 1 minute, 13.94 seconds. That performance, along with her runner-up finish the following day in giant slalom, was enough to push her past Incline’s Rose Hefferen for the combined state title. Hefferen would capture giant slalom gold to go along with a second-place finish in slalom.

As a team, the Lady Lakers would capture the slalom championship with 211 points. North Tahoe also had Ella Costello (1:16.79) in third place, Regan Clute (1:17.78) in fifth place, Taylor Brook (1:18.89) in eighth place, and Mikayla Walsh (1:19.07) in ninth place.

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The Truckee girls’ team finished second overall with 196 points. Tyne Beckwith led Truckee with a total time of 1:16.89 to finish in fourth place. Ciara Wing (1:17.78) finished sixth for the Wolverines, and Evelyn Tebb (1:19.90) took 10th.

Hefferen leads Incline to slalom gold

While Incline’s Hefferen came up short in her bid to capture the individual combined title, her giant slalom state win on Feb. 11 helped propel the Lady Highlanders to the team championship behind 213 points.

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Hefferen posted a total time of 1:04.62 to edge North Tahoe’s Benjaminson (1:05.68).

The Highlanders also had Paloma Nolan-Bowers (1:06.02) take third, Emmy Larson (1:07.32) finish fifth, and Whitney Kiesel (1:07.86) claim sixth.

The North Tahoe girls finished second overall with 201 points, which was enough to propel the team to the combined title. Following Benjaminson, North Tahoe had Brook (1:07.28) finish in fourth, and Eva Turk (1:08.58) finish in seventh place.

Truckee finished third as a team with 181 points. Lylah Kelly (1:08.83) led the Wolverines with a ninth-place finish. Truckee also had Ellie Peterson (1:09.68) take 10th place, and Audrey (1:10.44) finish in 11th.

“It’s been an interesting season, and I want to thank all the racers and especially the parents for hanging in there with changing schedules, multiple emails, waivers, COVID forms and more,” said Truckee Coach Patrick Mooney.

Justin Scacco is a reporter for the Sierra Sun. Contact him at jscacco@sierrasun.com or 530-550-2643.