After competing in a series of nine races in three skiing disciplines this season, the Far West division of the USSA has announced its athletes who qualified to compete in the Marriot J3 Western Region Junior Championships — aka, the Junior Olympics.

Diamond Peak Ski Team J3 (ages 13-14) members Hannah Johnson, Lauren Keller, Gavin Chen, Zane Bensing, Benjamin Farrar and Ian Reeves are among the 22 women and 31 athletes invited based on their performance. The Diamond Peak athletes will join skiers from California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, Alaska and Utah to compete for the best in the West.

To get there, these racers had their third and final stop in the Wild West Series at Squaw Valley from Feb. 25-27 for a super G race. Once again the athletes skied in three races over three days.

For the DPST ladies, Hannah Johnson landed on the podium with a second-place finish, and made the awards ceremony with another seventh- and eighth-place finish. With these fine finishes she finds herself in fifth place overall for J3 Far West ladies.

Lauren Keller, a DPST first-year J3, raced into eighth and 11th places in the super G series, and took 15th place overall.

For the men, Zane Bensing went to the awards ceremony with a seventh place as well as 10th and 11th. With these finishes he landed in 12th place overall among the J3 Far West men.

Gavin Chen raced to a fourth-place finish and finished 11th overall for the series. Benjamin Farrar skied into 15th place in the super G and was 25th overall. Ian Reeves wrapped up the JO qualifying rounds in 26th place to earn an invitation to the championships.

The Western Region Junior Championships will be held March 18-20 at Squaw Valley. For more information about DPST programs, athletes and coaches, go to www.dpsef.org. JO Standings can be found at www.fwskiing.us.

— This article was submitted to Sports Editor Sylas Wright at swright@tahoebonanza.com.