All the big names in the high school ski world were there.
The elite Far West crew and the best of the Basin all rolled out for the Tahoe Basin Ski League state finals, but when the snow settled Tuesday it was a wild card who took first.
Whittell's Michael Gardner turned in consistent top 10 times all year long, but Tuesday she stepped up her game. The wild card skier claimed first place in Tuesday's dual slalom, slowly eliminating the competition in head-to-head battles and catapulting her way to the top of the Tahoe Basin Ski League Individual standings with 303 points.
"She was racing against some really talented girls," Whittell ski coach Patrick Kelly said. "All the top girls were there, and she just had a tremendous day."
The top high school skiers from the Tahoe Basin Ski League battled it out at the NIAA Division 1-A State Championships at Sierra-at-Tahoe Mountain Resort earlier this week. The top three schools - North Tahoe, South Tahoe and Truckee - were allowed to bring their best eight boys and best eight girls. The rest of the schools got wild card entries based on overall point standings.
The state finals kicked off with giant slalom on Monday and wrapped up with head-to-head, dual elimination races on Tuesday. Skiers took home individual titles from each event and also combined state titles when the points from two days of racing were added up.
South Tahoe had already secured the overall TBSL team title, but the Viking boys were gunning for a state title to add to their accolades.
After two days of racing, the South Tahoe boys combined for 201 points to take first. It marks South Tahoe's 10th state title in the last 17 years.
Truckee was two points behind for second place (199), and North Tahoe swooped third (184).
North Tahoe's Garrett Driller led in the combined individual results, and Truckee's Scott Lebel grabbed second. Third and fourth belonged to South Tahoe though, with Connor McKeen and freshman Alec Jobbins rounding out the top combined. Jobbins managed to ski his way into second place in Tuesday's dual eliminations where skiers raced side-by-side and the fastest moved on to the next round.
McKeen took fourth place in both the giant slalom and dual slalom races, and emerged as league MVP among the boys with 294 points.
South Tahoe teammates Jason Elder (244), Chad Kassamani (235) and Austin Allen (230) took third, fourth and fifth in the Basin league standings respectively.
Hughston Norton was out representing for Whittell on Monday. The speedy Warrior grabbed third place in the giant slalom competition after driving through the night from a Far West competition.
On the girls' side, North Tahoe claimed the combined state team title with 199 points. South Tahoe's girls took second with 189 points and Truckee rounded out the combined results with 186 points.
Individually, North Tahoe's Francesca English smoked the competition for a combined first place. English finished first in Monday's giant slalom and second in Tuesday's duals.
Gardner's first place in Tuesday's duals pushed her into second in the combined state results, and helped land the Whittell girls into fourth in the overall league standings. Truckee's Mo Lebel took third after two days of racing. South Tahoe sophomore Mia Bickert finished a combined fourth with a second-place finish in the giant slalom and fifth-place finish in duals.
South Tahoe teammate Mikaela Clothier finished second in Tuesday's duals behind Gardner.
In addition to her first-place in duals, Gardner also pulled out a fourth-place in the giant slalom on Monday.
Bickert (272) ended the season ranked second in the overall TBSL results, and Clothier finished fourth in the league with 268 points. Katie Sears rounded out the South Tahoe's spots in the top 10 with a seventh-place finish (250) in individual league standings.
Whittell's Danica Bunnett captured sixth (259) in overall league standings.
"I was really proud with how we ended the season," Kelly said. "We had a lot of kids who this was their first year ski racing and they all showed tremendous improvement."
Ski Season Recap
TBSL individual final standings
Girls
GW Michael Gardner 303
ST Maia Bickert 272
NT Jessica Tidd 272
ST Mikaela Clothier 268
IHS Hannah Laurie 266
GW Danica Bunnett 259
ST Katie Sears 250
NT Bohzie Pokorney 248
NT Johanna Gur 242
NT Nicole Marinoff 229
Boys
ST Connor McKeen 294
TT Colin Gerrard 257
ST Jason Elder 244
ST Chad Kassamani 235
ST Austin Allen 230
DHS Grant Dunkelman 227
NT Nico Monforte 223
TT Wes Harrington 215
NT Drew Austin 214
NT Harrison Goss 211
TBSL Team final standings
Team Girls Boys
1 ST 1 NT 1 ST
2 NT 2 ST 2 TT
3 TT 3 TT 3 NT
4 DHS 4 GW 4 DHS
5 GW 5 DHS 5 GW
6 CHS 6 CHS (tie) 6 CHS
7 IHS 6 IHS (tie) 7 IHS
NIAA Division 1-A State Championships, Feb. 25
Giant Slalom Individual Results
Girls Boys
NT Francesca English NT Garrett Driller
ST Maia Bickert TT Scott Lebel
TT Mo Lebel GW Houston Norton
GW Michael Gardner ST Connor McKeen
TT Sabrina Futrol TT Nico Kuyper
Giant Slalom Team Results
Girls Boys
NT 109 ST 107
TT 98 NT 105
ST 92 TT 102
NIAA Division 1-A State Championships, Feb. 26
Slalom Dual Results
Girls Boys
GW Michael Gardner NT Garrett Driller
NT Francesca English ST Alec Jobbins
ST Mikaela Clothier TT Scott Lebel
TT Mo Lebel ST Connor McKeen
ST Maia Bickert TT Wes Harrington
ST Katie Sears NT Lucas Earley
NT Bohzie Pokorney TT Nico Kuyper
TT Sabrina Futrol IHS Kyle Reeves
Slalom Team Results
Girls Boys
ST 97 TT 97
NT 90 ST 94
TT 88 NT 79
NIAA Division 1-A State Championships Combined, Feb. 25-26
Girls Boys
NT 199 ST 201
ST 189 TT 199
TT 186 NT 184
Girls Combined Boys Combined
NT Francesca English NT Garrett Driller
GW Michael Gardner TT Scott Lebel
TT Mo Lebel ST Connor McKeen
ST Maia Bickert ST Alec Jobbins
TT Sabrina Futrol TT Nico Kuyper
