Slalom champions were crowned Wednesday at Alpine Meadows as the top high school ski racers descended upon the resort for the first day of state championships for the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association Tahoe Basin Ski League.

The race was held under warm, sunny conditions on a slalom course that benefited from a dusting of snow earlier this week.

North Tahoe senior Brenna Ritchie crushed the first run to give herself a more than a half-second advantage going into the final run. Truckee’s Amber Hansford made a strong push to claim the slalom title with the fastest second run of the day. Standing atop the venue following Hansford’s run, Ritchie delivered the second fastest final run of the afternoon to claim the slalom state championship with a combined time of 1 minute, 17.38 seconds.

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Hansford came in second with a total time of 1:17.93. Teammate Lylah Kelly was third with a combined time of 1:21.20. North Tahoe’s Ella Costello was fourth with a total time of 1:24.53, and Truckee’s Audrey Rawson was fifth with a total time of 1:24.88. Truckee and North Tahoe skiers combined for eight of the fastest 10 times of the day.

North Tahoe senior Toby Gajar tasted state gold as a freshman, winning giant slalom. Gajar struck gold again Wednesday, posting the fastest time in both runs to claim first place and give the Lakers a sweep of slalom state titles. Gajar finished the race with a combined time of 1:13.94.

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Teammate Emmett Roberts was second with a total time of 1:14.66.

Tyler Lamperti led Truckee with a combined time of 1:15.17 to take third place. North Tahoe’s Jackson Sanford took fourth place with a total time of 1:16.15. Truckee’s Aidan Peterson was fifth with a total time of 1:18.61. Like the girls, the boys from Truckee and North Tahoe posted eight of the day’s 10 fastest combined times.

State championship racing will continue Thursday at Alpine Meadows with giant slalom. The two events will be tallied together in order to name individual combined and team championships.

Justin Scacco is a staff writer with the Sierra Sun. He can be reached at jscacco@sierrasun.com