Spring sports roundup: Amanda and Hana Moll, Capital’s pole vaulting twins, have raised the bar in the Pacific Northwest

Amanda Moll and her twin sister Hana are the best pole vaulters in the South Sound.

Not merely the best in Class 3A, or the best sophomores, or even the best girls. They are flat out the best vaulters around.

You’d have to drive north of Seattle or to the east side of the state to find a boy with a mark that could beat the Capital High School tandem this spring, and you won’t find a girl anywhere in the Pacific Northwest who can.

When Yelm’s stellar all-around athlete Kyler Ronquillo bowed out of the competition at Friday’s 3A South Sound Conference championships after clearing 12 feet, he’d assured himself of a first place medal in the boys event.

Hana Moll kept going, clearing 13 feet. Her sister went higher still, clearing 13-9. When Amanda finally missed, at 14-2, she was attempting to break the national record for sophomore girls.

Even that wasn’t anything terribly new. Last July, Amanda cleared the metric equivalent of 14-3 3/4, leaving her a centimeter short of the world record for a 15-year old girl.

“They’re Olympia kids, born and raised,” Capital co-coach Michael Dallas said. “Their focus is on another level. You don’t see it in a lot of high school kids. They can turn on that focus and execute. It’s hard to find anything that makes them nervous. They’re very confident athletes.”

The twins found their way to the elite group of the nation’s top female youth pole vaulters — Amanda ranks fifth in the nation this spring (14-0) and Hana tied for 17th (13-0) — in a natural progression.

“We started gymnastics at a young age,” Hana recalled. “Then we got into track. Our mom thought pole vault looked really fun, so she said, ‘Why don’t you guys try that?’ ”

Paula Moll had wanted to compete in the pole vault during high school, but attended during the era when the event wasn’t offered for girls. She researched the pole vault and took her daughters to a camp to try it out.

“We just loved it,” Amanda said.

Former Yelm coach Mike Strong, now a Capital assistant, watched them compete in a middle school meet and became part of their support system. Strong had helped David Paul, now another Cougars assistant, reach the U.S. Olympic trials after a stellar college career at Eastern Washington.

Strong helped the Molls connect with the Northwest Pole Vaulters in South Seattle and the Paul Licari Pole Vault Club in Parkland.

Another connection that helps them succeed is the obvious one — being twins with similar goals.

“We’ve been in the same sports all our lives,” Hana said. “We’ve always been together. Our competitiveness is not toxic, but we always push each other. I don’t feel bad if she does better than me. I love competing with her in the same events. She’s always my supporter. I’m never scared to go on the runway alone. I always have her.”

Amanda agreed.

“We were very competitive when we were younger, but it’s never gotten to the point where it’s not a good relationship,” she said. “We’re always supportive of each other when one of us isn’t having a good day.”

Both sisters, aware of their potential at a young age, seek to weigh what Dallas called a “normal high school experience” against the steps needed to move toward college and, perhaps, international success.

“We do go to big meets and elite camps,” Amanda said. “We balance it out. We miss a meet or two of high school, but it’s not the end of the world. It’s every athlete’s dream to be really good, but the high school meets are fun. We like the social aspects.”

The Molls’ original focus was on combined events, but the pole vault isn’t a part of the heptathlon, and they decided going into the current school year to focus on the vault.

“It was a lot, but we balanced it really well and Strong was a great coach,” Amanda said. “Last summer, after I had my 14-3-and-change jump we decided to focus more on pole vault, because if we wanted to be very good it would be way too much to do that and the heptathlon, too.”

Nonetheless, to help their team and to find some variety, both compete in other events for Capital. Amanda also won the 3A SSC championship in the long jump on Friday at 17-3, and her personal-best 17-10 earlier this season trails only Curtis’ Rieko Wilford (18-11) in the state. Hana finished second Friday in the javelin and third in the long jump.

Both sisters helped a relay team that also included Kora Landers and Addison Harrington claim the 4x100 crown with a time of 50.91 seconds that currently ranks third in the state .

“The diligence that it takes to get good and to practice all these different events is incredible,” Dallas said. “They’re good team leaders, too. They’re goofy and they’re fun. Track’s not really a team sport, but at Capital we’ve got a very strong culture and they propel it to be even better.”

At the 3A SSC meet, the twins broke typical protocol, doing something officials would have not permitted if qualification to district and state meets was at stake, as it is in years not turned upside down by a pandemic.

With Capital teammate Lucy Hemingway the only other girl to move beyond 7 feet, the Molls gained permission to jump in progression with the boys, entering at 12 feet.

They weren’t trying to show up the boys. Not entirely anyway.

“It was mostly to push us more,” Amanda said. “We always have each other, but it’s good to have more competition.”

Before they entered, each clearing 12-0 and 12-6 without a miss, only Ronquillo was left in the boys’ competition.

Meanwhile, if not for the magic the Molls were displaying at the south end of the stadium, Timberline’s Danielle Hunter would have stolen the show.

The senior sprinter, who leads Washington across all classifications in both the 100- and 200-meter dashes, once again posted personal-bests in both races, finishing the 100 in 12.03 seconds and the 200 in 24.46.

On the boys side, Timberline’s Nhino Denis soared into the top five statewide in the triple jump with a leap of 43-9. But, another jumper from a Lacey high school still holds the state’s best mark. Joshua Braun of Pope John Paul II posted a career-best 45-6 1/2 during a 1B SeaTac League meet last week.

3A SSC BASEBALL

The Blazers (10-5) clinched the title with a 2-0 victory over Yelm on the final day of the season, holding off Capital by a single game with a 10-2 conference mark.

The Cougars won two of their three meetings with Timberline during the season, but dropped games to North Thurston and River Ridge while the Blazers lost only to Capital.

Marcus Olson and C.J. Beard were among the Blazers top pitchers while Chris Rivera was a power-hitting presence in the lineup. Franco Segura, Kaleb McNeely, Tyler McLellan, Ben Baker, Brandon Larson each had big moments across the course of the season.

Timberline loses just four seniors from the 2021 team, so won’t have to do a massive overhaul to defend its title next spring.

3A SSC SOFTBALL

The Tornados (14-0) turned away persistent challenges from Timberline (9-3) to win yet another 3A SSC championship. Two of Yelm’s three wins over the Blazers came in one-run games.

In mid-April, the Blazers carried a three-run lead into the seventh inning, but the Tornados rallied for four in the bottom of the frame and walked off with an 11-10 victory.

Thursday, this time on the road, Yelm rallied for another last-at-bat triumph, scoring two unearned runs in the top of the seventh to win, 7-6.

Yelm’s attack was relentless all season, with Katelyn Cederburg, Kailei Thompson, Molly Embrey and Elissa Dewees batting over .500. Not far behind were Ashlyn Aven, who led the Tornados with four home runs and 20 runs batted in, Molly Corak, Elena Castanon and Daylene Keyes, who all hit over .400.

In the circle, junior left-hander Vivian Watts was 10-0 with a 1.83 earned run average. Freshman Madisyn Erickson was 4-0 and even stingier with a 1.07 ERA and a .162 opponent batting average.

Yelm had reached the 3A state semifinals in each of the three seasons immediately preceding the cancelled 2020 campaign. With nine juniors on this season’s undefeated team, the Tornados have legitimate hopes of picking up where they left off if post-season play resumes as expected in 2022.

3A SSC BOYS SOCCER

Kristin Liukkonen has coached the Hawks’ girls for six years. When the boys job came open at the same moment the uncertainty of the pandemic came around, the school asked her to add another team to her duties.

Good decision. Installing a more aggressive 3-5-2 formation than the returning players were used to implementing, Liukkonen saw her team 3A SSC champion Hawks (9-0) rack up 40 goals offensively and allow just nine defensively, posting four shutouts.

“We pushed them to think outside the box and be on the attack more,” she said. “They questioned it at first, but played really well as a team.”

Trevor Thompson fueled the offense with 10 goals and 18 assists, many to leading scorer Patrick Chapman, who found the net 14 times.

Goalkeeper Saul Serrano totaled 33 saves on the season.

With eight seniors graduating, River Ridge will need to do some rebuilding, but a talented corps of freshmen, led by central defender Shaf Nor, returns in the fall.