SPORTS EDITOR'S NOTE: This story recaps results solely from J4 and J5 skiers on the Diamond Peak Ski Team. If readers wish to submit results from other Incline/Crystal Bay skiers racing for other ski teams, please send them to kmacmillan@tahoebonanza.com for consideration.

Diamond Peak Ski Team's J4/5 Far West racers ended their season with solid individual and team success at the J4/5 Championships this past weekend at Northstar-at-Tahoe, amid strong competition, challenging courses, changeable weather, unpredictable victories and unfortunate shake-ups.

Hannah Johnson wowed the crowd by landing her very first first-place finish of the season by more than 1.5 seconds, beating the field of J4 women on a tough slalom course. She also skied her season-best finishes in both the super-G (fifth place) and giant slalom (seventh place).

"Today's race was one of the most fun races ever," said Johnson of the slalom. "The course was icy ... and the race was on a steep hill, which was perfect for us. But the main part was that everyone had a great time!"

Marie Johnson also closed her season with impressive results. She scored second-place finishes in both GS and super-G, and a sixth in slalom to earn overall runner-up for the championships, right behind the J4 women's top racer, Squaw Valley's Jessica Todd.

After battling illness much of the regular season, Marie Johnson was happy to finally compete at full strength and have some fun during this final event

"It's been a tough year," she said. "And I am really glad that it ended on a such a high note."

Teammate Julia Bjorkman had a stong sixth-place finish in the GS, and placed 16th in both slalom and super-G, while Kerrie Tonking scored 17th in slalom, 21st in super-G and 39th in GS after a slip on the course. Remi Wolf finished 19th in super-G, after not posting times in both the slalom and GS.

It was all about Diamond Peak's Ty Sprock in Thursday's J4 men's slalom. After drawing a tough start position and being one of the last to run, Sprock nailed the first run ahead of his rivals with the fastest time of 36.33 seconds. When the field flipped for the second run, Sprock was in a position to win with a 40.02 and a combined time of 1:16.35.

"Even though I was the 102nd to run, the course was pretty hard and held up well. Then, in the second run, I had a great start and a perfect course and just went for the win," said Sprock, happy with the times he saw posted on the scoreboard.

Fate took a tougher turn for Sprock in the GS, where he blew out after a scorching performance on the top of the run. In the super-G, he had another stroke of bad luck during another great run, but still finished with the pack in 25th.

"I was having a ripping run, but then I fell," said Sprock.

Teammate Connor McKeen also had a very good day in slalom with a fourth overall, but took a bad tumble in the GS and suffered a slight concussion. Though up and feeling better, McKeen chose not to race in the super-G on Saturday.

Diamond Peak's Ian Reeves, Andre Cornman, Gavin Chen and Stefan and Kai Arnone rounded out the field for the J4 men. Reeves took a 38th in GS and 54th in super-G, Cornman placed 57th in the slalom, and Chen and Stefan Arnone were 51st- and 57th- place, respectively, in the GS. Kai Arnone was 78th in slalom and 81st in GS.

Spring weather and hard pack snow made for excellent racing conditions at the Far West J5 Championships March 27-29 at the Pioneer run at Northstar. Diamond Peak Ski Team members moved in and out of podium placement all three days and thrived in the intense competition.

On Thursday, the sunny and cold weather and firm snow made for a high-speed GS course. Diamond Peak J5 boys skied hard with Nelson Bedient placing 22nd, Winston Pretti 38th, Lucas Wolf 49th, Mitchell Cornell 50th and Hans Rathsack 52nd, while Hunter Pitts did not finish his second run.

Friday was partly sunny, and the 33 stubby gate slalom course was fast. Diamond Peak's Bedient skied into his best finish of the competition coming in ninth, and was slightly more than three seconds off winner Squaw Valley's Kalle Wagner's combined time of 1:12:03. Missing a podium by less than a second was Rathsack in 16th, followed by Wolf and Cornell who placed 20th and 25th. Pitts and Pretti were disqualified on their second runs.

The competitive field of 86 boys charged the 33/34 gate Big G on a partly cloudy Saturday. Bedient podiumed for a second time during the competition coming in 11th place, followed by Rathsack in 45th, Pitts in 50th and Cornell in 65th.

Auburn Ski Club's Gabriela Knudson set the pace for all the competitors, including the boys, and the Diamond Peak J5 girls followed in her tracks.

On Thursday's GS course, Lauren Keller missed taking home a trophy by only .56 second and took 16th place. Amanda Pretti took 24th followed by Erika Kennedy in 27th, Emily Sewell in 37th, Hannah Laurie in 40th and Alyssa Kennedy 44th.

The Diamond Peak J5 girls skied on to Friday's slalom podiums with a ninth place for Keller and 12th for Erika Kennedy. Finishing in the top half of the 77 racers were Laurie in 25th, and Alyssa Kennedy in 27th. Unfortunately, Pretti did not finish her second run.

During Saturday's Big G, Keller raced her way onto a second podium and into 12th place for Diamond Peak out of the 72 racers. Teammates Erika Kennedy, Pretti and Laurie raced into 18th, 33rd and 42nd.

For complete Far West J4/5 Championship results, visit www.fwskiing.us.