Coming fresh on the heels of the state skiing championships, members of the Douglas ski team got one more chance to compete in a unique racing format to close out the year.
Douglas placed four boys and four girls in the top 16 of the Tahoe Basin Ski League individual championships. For the championships, racers got one run on a hybrid slalom-giant slalom course.
The top 16 boys and top 16 girls were then seeded into a tournament bracket where they went head-to-head, racing side-by-side with another racing. Winners advanced to the next round until a champion was crowned.
Douglas' Anton Anger claimed the No. 1 seed on the boys' side and Crystal Rutledge took the No. 1 seed on the girls' side.
Other skiers from Douglas that made the top 16 were Andrew Solomon, Michael Barnes and MacKenzie Bennington for the boys and Avery Carrig, Jennifer Stice and Kristin Lovell for the girls.
Rutledge ended up winning the gold medal. Barnes out-dueled Bennington for the bronze medal and Stice took fourth in the girls' race.
"This was a fun and great way to end the season," Douglas coach Rob Parks said. "Because of all the changes to the state ski championships last week, the league determined that the racers that qualified for state would not be able to compete in the league finals."
Douglas' lone state qualifier, freshman Hillary Sapp, earned All-Tahoe Basin Ski League honors for scoring in the top 10 during the regular season. She had the second-most points out of any racer in the league.
