Far West championships wrap up season for Diamond Peak Team

Diamond Peak’s J3 Ski Team took the season’s final show on the road, joining other 3s, J1s, J2s and Mids, including the U.S. Ski Team’s Stacey Cook, for the Far West Championships at Squaw Valley and Boreal during the first weekend of April (giant slalom and slalom) and then south to Mammoth Mountain, April 19-25, for the super-G and downhill speed events.

With Junior Olympic-qualified racers Luca Genasci and Erik Johnson out for the season with injuries, JO veterans Alexander Fulton and Alex Tanner took the torch during the championships to represent the Diamond Peak J3 men.

Under ideal racing conditions for the giant slalom at Squaw, Fulton proved consistent and took home fourth-place finishes both days, with times of 1 minute, 55.68 seconds and 1:55.56, respectively.

Capping a stellar personal season, first-year standout Lila Lapanja went right to work at Squaw, grabbing a J3 silver with a time of 1:55.56 on day one and a bronze with a 1:55.20 on day two. Makenzie Malvey completed her GS season with 31st- and 28th–place finishes, followed by Ginetta Sagan in 37th in Sunday’s race.

Slalom was on tap for the following two days at Boreal, and again, excellent results rolled in. Lapanja took a third and a first for the J3 women, finishing second overall in the second day of slalom, bested only by University of Nevada racer Annie Vranizan, who is nine years older. Though they met personal challenge on the course, Malvey and Sagan again raced and finished, showing their dedication to the sport.

Fulton finished with a slalom time of 1:20.51, putting him in eighth place for the J3s on the first day and in sixth place with a time of 1:20.30 for the second day. Teammate Tanner also raced in the first slalom but did not finish his first run.

At Mammoth Mountain during the speed events, the racers were confronted with severe winds and an extremely icy course, and the giant slalom was canceled.

Though 40 mph to 60 mph gusts prevailed, two days of super-G featured Lapanja, Fulton and Malvey racing for their team in some extremely challenging conditions.

Lapanja placed ninth for the J3s in the super-G each day, Fulton finished 20th on day one (DNF’d day two) and Malvey completed her season year with times of 1:17.68 and 1:17.44.

The sun came out and the winds died down for the ultimate speed event — the downhill — and Lapanja took to the hill as the sole racer for the Diamond Peak women and came home with the gold in the very first downhill she ever raced in her career.

In the following two races, Lapanja finished second and fourth and was very happy with her overall points and results.

Fulton represented the J3 men in the speed events and came home with consistent top-twenty results including 19th-, 17th-, and 18th-place finishes, wrapping up a very good personal season.