3A/4A West-Central District championship track: Curtis, Yelm boys, Capital, Tahoma girls win team titles
KENT, Wash. — One pair are sisters, the other just good friends competing with and against each other for the same team. But both duos found success this week at the 3A/4A Bi-District track meet held at French Field in Kent.
The Molls, Hana and Amanda, personally tallied a third of the Capital girls 76 points on Friday as the Cougars outscored runner-up Central Kitsap, 76-66, to win the 3A girls team title.
The sister act did most of that work in their specialty – the pole vault.
Each Moll cleared 14 feet in the event to grab the top two spots from the bi-district meet to the state meet that begins next Thursday and runs through Saturday at Mount Tahoma High. Being the top two finishers in the event was good for 18 team points.
Amanda Moll added another eight points by finishing second in the long jump, an event she completed during the same session as the pole vault. Moll long jumped 17 feet, seven inches to the winning 17-11.75 from Prairie’s Kara Mattison.
“I was definitely a little more tired than I usually am,” Amanda Moll said. “Definitely my legs hurt.”
While Amanda Moll will compete in both events at state, she won’t need to worry about the tight turnaround in Tacoma next weekend. The 3A pole vault is scheduled for Friday morning while the long jump won’t happen until Saturday.
(READ: Sisters soaring high! Amanda and Hana Moll taking girls pole vaulting to a new level)
That could bode well for the state leader in the pole vault (14-9.25) and her sister as they assault the state meet record of 14-0 set the last time the state meet was held, in 2019, by West Seattle’s Chloe Cunliffe.
While the Moll sisters’ effort resulted in a district team title, the Federal Way pair of Cassandra Atkins and Esther Akinlosotu didn’t push the Eagles to a team title. That went to Tahoma, 103-93, over runner-up Curtis.
Akinlosotu and Atkins did finish first and second twice this week for Federal Way, though. On Friday, the winner’s circle belonged to Akinlosotu, whose triple jump of 38-8.75 beat her teammate’s 37-10.75.
That result flipped what the pair of Eagles accomplished on Day 1 of the bi-district, when Atkins won the long jump followed by Akinlosotu.
“We do club together,” Atkins said. “So she’s always good competition to have out here. Someone to push me. She’s had an injury, so she hasn’t been jumping as good lately as she has. But she still beat me today.”
The performances from the Capital sisters and the pair of Eagles were just a few of many solid times and marks that peppered Day 2 competition at the bi-district. Included was a new state-best performance this spring in the girls javelin.
Kentridge’s Saydi Orange already led the state in the event, having thrown a 154-9 during a tri-meet at French Field back on April 28. On Friday, she raised the mark to 157-0.
Evergreen football star wins long jump
In the boys long jump, Evergreen’s Jonathan Landry popped a personal record 23-0 1/2 (unofficial), equaling the state-leading mark set on May 14 by Walla Walla senior Dash Sirmon at the MCC Championships.
In doing so, Landry beat bi-district favorite in the event, Kyler Ronquillo of Yelm and set an Evergreen school record, according to athletic director Christian Swain.
The Tornados junior also advanced to state with his second-place leap of 22-6, which also equaled his best so far this spring.
“He peaked at the right time,” Ronquillo said. “My last jump, I was feeling good. Lined up. I’ve got to control what I can control. I got a big headwind gust, and I flopped straight down.”
Ronquillo and his teammates had the last laugh, though, as they scored 96 points to win the bi-district title over Gig Harbor and the Tides 76 team points.
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Meanwhile, in the 4A boys team race, Curtis managed to do its girls team one place better, scoring a 95-84 win over Emerald Ridge.
Find full official results on Athletic.net.
--Doug Drowley; @STPWriteNow.
