Hana Moll wins pole vault title – for herself and for her sister

Hana Moll of Northwest Pole Vault TC (WA) won her second Nike Outdoor Nationals title Friday at Hayward Field. Photo by Maggie Troxell

By Israel La Rue

The national high school outdoor record holder in the girls pole vault, Hana Moll, won her second Nike Outdoor Nationals title Friday at Hayward Field, but this title is different from the one she won in 2021. She didn’t have her twin sister, Amanda, to compete with. 

Hana, who set the record of 15 feet earlier this season at Arcadia, jumped 14-6. 

“I feel like I wasn’t only doing it for myself but for my sister who wasn’t able to compete,” Hana said. “So it feels just more than my accomplishment.”

Amanda, the indoor high school record holder at 15-1.5, has been dealing with a mental block after slipping off of her pole at the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays in March. 

“It's definitely affecting me,” Hana said. “I'm glad it hasn't affected my vaulting, but, yeah, she's working through it. I think she's in a better place than she was a couple of weeks ago, but it’s nice to have her in the stands.”

Amanda also didn’t compete in this year's Washington state championships, where Hana won her first 3A girls pole vault title with a jump of 14-7.

The sisters have had a long history of competing against each other in this event.

When Hana broke the outdoor record, it was 2.5 inches higher than the previous record, which Amanda had set in 2022.

Hanna placed second last year at the USATF U20 Outdoor Championships behind Amanda. Both qualified for the U20 World Championships, where Hana won gold and Amanda finished fourth.

On Friday, since Hana passed on the first three heights, she had a long time between her warmups and her first jump. To pass the time, she did some handstands, a lot of high knees, stretched and rolled out her muscles to stay warm.

“I usually don't do handstands while I’m competing,” Hana said. “It’s before, if I'm bored. But, yeah, I really like doing handstands.”

After passing on the first three heights, Hana jumped over 13-6.25 on her first attempt, then passed for the fourth time of the day at 13-10.

At 14-2, only three jumpers remained, and Hana was sitting in second place because Jathiyah Muhammad didn’t need more than one jump for the previous marks. Hana’s club teammate, Ella McRitchie, cleared 14-2 on her first attempt, putting her in first. 

Hana didn’t need more than one jump as well at 14-2, and with Muhammad being the only one out of the three jumpers to not jump over the mark on her first try, Hana sat in first place waiting for the next mark.

Hana cleared 14-6 in her first attempt and secured her win as Muhammad and McRitchie weren’t able to clear the mark. 

She tried 14-9 which would’ve been a meet record, but she missed all three attempts.

Hana will be competing in two more meets this summer – USATF nationals, in the senior division, and the Ed Murphy Classic – before going off to the University of Washington with Amanda this fall.

Although she’s been competing without Amanda for several meets now, Hana still misses her sister.

“I don't have that person that I can connect with on that,” she said. “But I was feeling her vibes from the stands.”