The NCAA women's pole vault title stays in the Moll family...
VIRGINIA BEACH, Virginia--The NCAA women's pole vault crown will stay in the Moll family and at the University of Washington for another season.
This time, Amanda Moll (Paul Merca photo), who did not qualify for this meet last year, got the victory over defending champion Hana Moll to highlight day one of the NCAA Division I indoor track & field championships at the Virginia Beach Sports Center Friday.
For most of the competition, it appeared that Hana would defend her national indoor title, as she was clean through the first four bars, with Amanda missing on her first vault of the day at 13-11.25 (4.25m).
After that initial hiccup, the twins matched each other with first attempt makes, until the bar went to 15-5 (4.70m), after eliminating the final two vaulters, Oklahoma's Olivia Lueking and Kansas' Mason Meinershagen at 15-1 (4.60m).
At 15-5 (4.70m), Amanda came through with a first attempt make, while Hana needed three tries to navigate the bar.
The twins passed 15-7 (4.75m) to take a shot at 15-9 (4.80m). Neither came close to clearing, with Amanda winning on the first attempt make at 15-5 (4.70n).
Washington State's Tatum Moku finished in a tie for eleventh, clearing 13-11.25 (4.25m).
The Husky women's distance medley relay team of Julia David-Smith, Anna Terrell, Claire Yerby and Mia Cochran finished eighth in a time of 11:02.31, as BYU took the win in a meet record 10:45.34.
After six of seventeen events scored, Washington stands in a tie for second with Oklahoma at 19 points, while Illinois leads the women's team competition with 21.
In the only other women's final involving an athlete with Washington ties, Tahoma HS grad Alaina Brady of Notre Dame finished 15th in the pentathlon with a five-event score of 3956 points.
Both Chloe Foerster and Amina Maatoug of Washington qualified for the finals in the mile on Saturday.
Maatoug finished third in her heat in 4:36.18, while Foerster finished second in heat 2 in 4:34.74, despite getting cut off in the final lap by former Husky Wilma Nielsen of Oregon, who won the heat in 4:34.17.
The duo will run at 3:00 pm local time (noon Pacific time).
In the 60 hurdles, Washington State's Micaela De Mello advanced to Saturday's finals with a third place finish in the first heat, matching her personal best of 8.00.
It marks the second time in less than a month that De Mello has run 8.00, the first coming while winning the 2025 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Indoor title in late February. De Mello had the fourth-fastest time in the semifinal round and will run out of lane 2 in the final at 3:40 pm local time (12:40 pm Pacific).
After the mile, Maatoug returns to run in the final of the 3000 at 4:00 pm local time (1:00 pm Pacific).
MEN'S FRIDAY RECAP...
In one of the first men's finals contested, Ridgefield HS grad Trey Knight (right/Paul Merca photo) of Cal State Northridge finished second in the weight throw with a toss of 80-4.25 (24.49m).
Right behind Knight was Rainier HS grad Jeremiah Nubbe of Virginia, who finished fourth with a personal best throw of 79-3.75 (24.17m).
Other Friday finals saw Washington State's Evans Kurui finish tenth in the 5000 meters after running near the front for most of the race. Kurui clocked 13:23.28, which was his second fastest time this season.
In the pole vault, the Huskies' Scott Toney, who was fifth in this meet last year, finished tenth with a best of 17-11 (5.46m).
Washington's distance medley relay team of Rhys Hammond, Bodi Ligins, Martin Barco and Leo Daschbach finished eleventh in 9:31.11, as Virginia won in a meet record 9:15.12.
Qualifying action Friday saw both Nathan Green (3:56.91) and Ronan McMahon-Staggs (4:01.76) advance to Saturday's final in the mile at 6:00 pm local time (3:00 pm Pacific), while Rob McManus of Cashmere and Montana State ran 4:05.82.
Justin O'Toole of Washington advanced to the finals of the 800 at 6:30 pm local time (3:30 pm Pacific), running 1:46.68, while Cole Lindhorst was advanced due to a collision with Oregon's Koitatoi Kidali.
Kyle Reinheimer did not advance, running 1:49.93.
Washington State's Mason Lawyer ran 6.62, finishing 14th overall. In the 200m, he finished third in his heat and 10th overall in a time of 20.79 second, picking up Second-Team All-America honors in both events.
In the 400, Washington prep product Will Floyd of Seattle Prep and the University of Georgia advanced to Saturday's final at 6:20 pm local time (3:20 pm Pacific) by winning his heat in 45.60, the second fastest time of the day. Bellingham native Jacob Andrews of USC took out his heat hard, but faded, finishing in 47.11.
Another Bellingham native, Andre Korbmacher of Florida State, finished eighth in his heat of the 60 hurdles, running 7.76.
In the heptathlon, Washington's Jami Schlueter stands seventh with a four event score of 3143 points.
After a sub-par start in his first two events, where he ran 6.98 in the 60, and only long jumped 21-8.25 (6.61m), he rallied big, throwing two personal bests in the series, first going 49-10.5 (15.20m) in round 1, and closing with a toss of 50-2 (15.29m).
Schlueter finished the day with a clearance of 6-3.25 (1.91m).
The heptathlon resumes Saturday at 9:30 am (6:30 am Pacific) with the 60 hurdles, then off to the pole vault at 10:30 am (7:30 am Pacific), before closing with the 1000 at 2:30 pm (11:30 am Pacific).
Both Will Floyd and Jacob Andrews are listed on the 4 x 400 relay pool for Georgia and USC. The men's 4 x 400 concludes the meet at 7:20 pm local time (4:20 pm Pacific).
Going into Saturday, Washington has not scored yet, but has scoring opportunities in the mile 800, and heptathlon.
DIVISION II RECAP...
In Indianapolis, Western Washington's distance medley relay team of seniors Sophie Wright, Bec Bennett and Ila Davis, and junior Emmy Kroontje, finished seventh in a time of 11:30.44 at the NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships at Fall Creek Pavilion Friday.
Central Washington freshman Bautista Diamante competed in his first NCAA Championship event, clocking a 200 meters time of 21.30 seconds and finishing in 14th in the prelims. He was just 0.12 seconds off his season best of 21.18 seconds.
Central Washington’s E’lexis Hollis narrowly missed out on a spot in the 200 meter finals, finishing 12th in the prelims with a time of 23.99 seconds. She was just 0.05 seconds off her collegiate best of 23.94 seconds which she ran earlier this season. Hollis’s championship will extend to Saturday however, as she punched her ticket to the women’s 60-meter finals which are scheduled for 11:45 a.m. on the final day of the meet.
Johan Correa of Central Washington is headed to the finals in the men’s 800 meters, after finishing eighth in the prelims with a time of 1:51.08 minutes. Correa, who finished fourth in the event at last year’s NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, will compete in the finals at 1:10 p.m. (Pacific) on Saturday.
Also competing Saturday are Bec Bennett in the 400 finals; Kora Cook in the women's high jump; and Kevin McDermott of Western Washington in the men's 3000.
Seattle Pacific's Annika Esvelt returns to the track to race in the women's 3000, while Central Washington will also have in action Emy Ntekpere in both the high and triple jumps, and Isaiah Webster in the men's triple jump.
NOTE: The NCAA, USTFCCCA, Great Northwest Athletic Conference, along with the sports information offices of the University of Washington, Washington State University, Western Washington, Seattle Pacific, and Central Washington University contributed to this report.
paulmerca.blogspot.com may receive a commission for any purchases made from links clicked. Please support this site and our sponsors by clicking on the links. You can also support the site by clicking the yellow "Buy Me A Coffee" link below.
Comments