Winston Pretti, Sami Lampe race well for Diamond Peak

Diamond Peak racers finished their season with a bang at the Tahoe League Championships March 29 and 30 at Sugar Bowl Ski Area. More than 350 racers from the Tahoe area participated each day, including racers from Squaw Valley, Heavenly, Alpine Meadows, Boreal, Mt. Rose, Northstar-at-Tahoe and Sugar Bowl, among others.

The races began Saturday with several inches of fresh powder at Sugar Bowl. Diamond Peak had strong finishes for the 10 and under group who raced slalom.

Racing against 68 boys in the 7-8 year-old category, Diamond Peak's Winston Pretti easily secured first place in slalom despite a fall on his first run, with a winning time of 1 minute, 26.09 seconds, more than 3.6 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher Dylan Gooding from Heavenly Valley. Diamond Peak teammate Casey Delaney earned seventh for the 7-8 year-old boys with a time of 1:34.15, while Belle Johnson placed seventh for the 7-8 year-old girls with a time of 1:38.09. For the 9-10 year-old girls, Diamond Peak's Sami Lampe placed second with a 1:30.17, while Incline resident Annika Hansen, who races for Squaw, placed third with a time of 1:31.34.

In giant slalom results for the 11 and up age group on Saturday, Diamond Peak's Andre Cornman raced to sixth for the 11-12 year-old boys with a time of 1:16.87. For the 11-12 year-old girls, Kayla Goldberg earned seventh with a time of 1:20.35 while Elise Nelson and Sara Wright placed 13th and 15th respectively.

Despite blustery conditions, the racing action continued on Sunday with giant slalom for the 10 and under group who once again finished strong. For the 7-8 year-old boys, Pretti placed sixth with a time of 1:22.10, Delaney finished ninth with a 1:22.87 and Michael Hartman came in 12th with a 1:24.67. For the 7-8 year old girls, Johnson placed eighth with a time of 1:23.70, while teammate Laurel Taylor made her way to 15th. The 9-10 boys also showed their presence with a 15th place finish by Mitchell Cornell.

The 11 and up group raced slalom on Sunday where the 11-12 year-old girls demonstrated their strengths. Nelson placed fourth with a time of 1:44.31, while Goldberg snagged sixth with a 1:45.06. Cornman was in second after the first run, but unfortunately disqualified on his second run.

Combined results

Pretti won second overall for the 7-8 year-old boys championships, tied with first-place finisher Squaw Valley's Max Wingard with 35 points each, while Casey Delaney raced his way to eighth place. Belle Johnson brought in a seventh for the 7-8 year-old girls, while in the 9-10 year-old girls division, Sami Lampe raced to fourth and Annika Hansen took eighth. For the 11-12 year-old girls, Kayla Goldberg came in sixth for the weekend, while Elise Nelson brought in an eighth place for Diamond Peak.

"We have a great group of kids in the Tahoe League who get good results," said Diamond Peak coach Josee Lacasse. "That inspires our athletes at all levels to work hard and do well."