North Tahoe senior Nico Monforte picked up right where he left off last season in the opening Tahoe Basin League ski race.

Monforte, a seasoned Far West talent and the defending combined champion of the Tahoe Basin League, claimed victory ahead of Connor McKeen of South Tahoe in the giant slalom race at Alpine Meadows last Thursday.

Monforte posted a winning time of 1:03.93 between his two runs to McKeen’s 1:04.62, while North Tahoe teammate Lucas Earley rounded out the top three in 1:05.63.

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In the girls’ race, North Tahoe’s Johanna Gur finished third and Truckee’s Hailey Perkins was second.

Despite the top-three finishes, however, neither North Tahoe nor Truckee won as a team. South Tahoe’s boys and girls both captured team victories to take the combined win.

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South Tahoe’s boys posted a winning score of 202 points to runner-up North Tahoe’s 196 and Truckee’s 190.

South Tahoe’s girls, meanwhile, tallied 197 points to North Tahoe’s 194 and Whittell’s 146. Truckee’s girls were fourth with 139 points. Both Truckee and Whittell had only three girls (the top four results count toward the team score).

The Vikings took the combined win with a score of 399 points. North Tahoe was second with 390, followed by Truckee with 329, Douglas with 296, Whittell with 257, Carson with 192 and Incline, which had only two racers, with 74.

Michael Gardner of Whittell led the way in the girls’ race, winning with a time of 1:09.91, compared to Perkins’ 1:10.69 and Gur’s 1:11.52.

North Tahoe’s Emma Sproehnle finished eighth in 1:13.44 and was followed by teammates Audrey Johnson (10th, 1:15.38), Nicole Marinoff (13th, 1:15.95), Sydney Lancaster (14th, 1:15.96) and Allie Doyle (17th, 1:17.73).

For Truckee, Chelsea Mohun finished 18th in 1:18.33 and Sarah Manthorpe was 22nd in 1:21.70.

Senior Nico Kuyper led the Truckee boys with a fifth-place finish in a time of 1:06.73, while Truckee’s Wes Harrington was sixth in 1:07.98. They were trailed by teammates Isaac Osborne (12th, 1:09.69), Colin Gerrard (15th, 1:10.13) and Cedric Dagueville (16th, 1:11.25).

Finishing after Monforte and Earley were Lakers teammates Wildon DesLauriers, who was 10th in 1:09.41, Chase Whitney (18th, 1:11.86), Troy Kalange (19th, 1:13.03) and Tilen Lane (20th, 1:13.03).