Thurston County track standouts have state title aspirations, and records to prove it

The national high school track and field spotlight is on Thurston County.

Capital juniors Amanda and Hana Moll have set records indoors and out to hold down two of the top three spots in girls pole vault nationwide. Rainier senior Jeremiah Nubbe leads the nation in boys discus.

But perhaps no school has the depth displayed by Yelm, which has drawn attention with a burst of recent personal records placing its athletes high on state leaderboards, sparking thoughts of a high team finish at the 3A state meet.

“We can definitely place,” said the Tornados’ sophomore thrower Brayden Platt. “Our cross country team is elite. Our high jumpers are great and we’ve got some sprinters who are really good, too.”

Yelm coach Chris Stovall thinks the Tornado boys can finish in the top three or four at state.

Platt himself is ranked in the top three in every 3A boys throwing event: He’s second in the shot put at 55 feet, 10.5 inches, less than two inches behind leader Caden Hottman of Hermiston; third in the discus (147-6) and third in the javelin (192-1). Platt is on a hot streak. All three of his PRs came in last weekend’s South Sound Classic at Sparks Stadium in Puyallup.

“I’ve been working with the coaches to get my technique right,” Platt said.

Stovall calls Platt “a raw, powerful talent. He takes coaching really well. The sky’s the limit for him.”

Junior Kyler Ronquillo had the lead in the long jump (21-9) but was recently edged by Jamari Jefferson of Marysville-Pilchuck (22-1) and Dash Simon of Walla Walla (21-10.5). Ronquillo, who finished fourth in last June’s state decathlon championship, is also in the top 10 in the 110 meter hurdles (fourth at 14.91) high jump (tied for sixth at 6-0) and pole vault (ninth at 13-0).

His goal is to win the state decathlon the next two years.

“I really think I have the capability to do it,” he said. “I’m getting coaching in the more technical events, pole vault, hurdles, and training to strengthen the simpler events. I have to balance my school work with staying at the track a little extra time.”

Both Platt, a two way All-3A South Sound Conference football player at running back and linebacker, and Ronquillo, who was the league’s offensive MVP, put football first but aren’t ruling out collegiate track careers.

“Track won’t be my main sport,” said Platt, who has Pac-12 football offers as a sophomore, “But I’ll definitely consider doing it in college, too.”

Ronquillo is more open to prioritizing track and field.

“My mentality right now is it all depends on the school the offer comes from,” he said.

Platt, who also reached the semi-finals of the state wrestling tournament, finds the adjustment to track more unusual than from football to wrestling.

“Wrestling is one person versus one person,” he said. “In track, in the throws anyway, you’re kind of going against yourself. There’s no one at the time you’re throwing that you’re against.”

Meanwhile, sophomore Jordan Lasher has made a meteoric rise in the pole vault. Entering the season with a PR of 11-0, he topped out at 11-6 in Yelm’s first meet, a jamboree on March 18. Wednesday, in a triangular meet with Gig Harbor at Capital, he soared 13-6, surpassing his mentor Ronquillo and landing in fourth on the 3A list, a foot behind leader Lakotah Henderson of Mead.

“It felt great,” Lasher said. “The whole team was watching.”

Lasher has begun to get some outside coaching as he follows Ronquillo into multi-events, but gives most of the credit for his rise to Yelm assistant Gabe Cordero.

“He does a great job. He’s shaped me day by day as a vaulter,” Lasher said.

Stovall saw the excellence coming. He formerly coached many of this year’s Yelm athletes at Ridgeline Middle School, where his wife Cami is now the head coach.

“We’ve known these guys for a long time. They’re great kids,” he said. “They’re very self-driven kids, students of their craft. These guys complete what we’re trying to do as a program. They’re leaders on the field, off the field. You couldn’t ask for better athletes.”

Two other high jumpers have excelled for Yelm. Josh McCracken joins Ronquillo in that sixth place tie at 6-0 in the boys while Nolah Wofford has leaped 5-0 for the girls, good for eighth in 3A.

Yelm clearly is not the only local 3A school with standout competitors.

Capital has watched the Moll sisters reach an international level of success in the vault. Amanda’s national-leading 14-9.5 mark came in the Texas Relays and is the girls high school national record. Hana is third among high school vaulters nationally with a 13-10 mark. But that’s only half the story. She vaulted 14-8, the second highest ever indoor mark for a high school girl at the National Pole Vault Summit in Reno just after New Year’s.

The twins don’t always pole vault for Capital, but make their mark in other events. Hana holds the state’s fastest 3A time in the 100 hurdles in 14.81, second among all classifications behind Emerald Ridge’s freshman star JaiCieonna Gero-Holt. Amanda is tied for fourth in the long jump at 17-10. Both, along with Kora Landers and Addison Harrington, are on the Cougars 4x100 relay team that leads 3A with a 50.19 best.

Other local 3A competitors ranked in the state including Capital’s Sean Jackson, second in the boys 400 at 49.82 and sixth in the boys 200 at 22.4; Capital boys pole vaulter Dylan Jones, tied for seventh at 13-0, Timberline boys triple jumper Jackson Brown, eighth at 42-2.75, Timberline’s Destinee Robertson, second in the girls 100 at 12.47; Landers, sixth the girls 100 at 12.66; Timberline’s Abigail Pedro, fourth in the girls shot put at 38-1.5 and seventh in the discus at 108-1.

This story was originally published April 28, 2022 at 5:00 AM.