The near-yrast states of ¹⁰¹_{\ 42}Mo₅₉ and ^103,4₄₄Ru_59,60 have been studied following their population via heavy-ion multinucleon transfer reactions between a ¹³⁶Xe beam and a thin, self-supporting ¹⁰⁰Mo target. The ground state sequence in ¹⁰⁴Ru can be understood as demonstrating a simple evolution from a quasi-vibrational structure at lower spins to statically deformed, quasi-rotational excitation involving the population of a pair of low-{\Omega } h_11/2 neutron orbitals. The effect of the decoupled h_11/2 orbital on this vibration-to-rotational evolution is demonstrated by an extension of the ``E-GOS'' prescription to include odd-A nuclei. The experimental results are also compared with self-consistent Total Routhian Surface calculations which also highlight the polarising role of the highly aligned neutron h_11/2 orbital in these nuclei.

PACS numbers: 21.10.--k, 21.10.Re, 23.20.Lv, 27.60.+j