RICHMOND, VA – Senior
Harry Momolu of the Fork Union Military Academy indoor track and field program won his fourth career Virginia Prep League title that helped place the Blue Devils fourth overall at the 2023-24 Virginia Prep League Championship this past Saturday.
The Blackwood, NJ native won the 55-meter hurdles with a time of 7.63. His conference championship resume also includes the 2023 55-meter indoor hurdles, 2024 110-meter outdoor hurdles and the 2024 300-meter outdoor hurdles.
As a team, Fork Union collected 18 top-10 finishes, including five trips to the podium.
"The Prep League has become an ultra-elite event," said head coach Winston Brown. "We projected to finish 6th but came up to fourth so a pretty good day for us. Very solid effort from Harry to defend his title from a year ago. Our underclassmen were great as well.
David Eaton has arrived as a force as has Aidan Koffa. We had several student-athletes really step up to punch tickets to the state meet this week, including Ben Burtram, Phillipe Lianavwa and Carmelo Spaulding. Phillipe Lianavwa improved by 6 seconds to make it in the 500."
In addition to Momolu's individual title, he helped two relay teams reach the podium. The 4x200 relay quartet of Momolu, Shaun Matthews, Aidan Koffa and Luke Boucher-Zazzaro put together a time of 1:33.33 to place second and the 4x400 relay team of Momolu, Koffa, Alex Jackson and Kaydan Whiteside crossed the finish line at the 3:45.24 mark to place third.
Along with helping both relay teams to the podium, Koffa, a sophomore from Frederick, Maryland, placed second in the 300-meter dash with a time of 36.68.
Freshman David Eaton recorded two impressive finishes in the long distance events. He crossed the finish line at the 10:25.40 mark of the 3200-meter run to place second overall. The Madison Heights, Virginia native also placed fourth in the 1600-meter run with a time of 4:42.37.
Other notable performances included Shaun Matthews placing fifth in the 300-meter dash (39.13), Phillipe Lianvwa placing seventh in the 500-meter dash (1:13.59) and Ben Burtram placing fifth in the pole vault (10-00.00).
The Blue Devils return to Richmond this Saturday, February 17 for the 2023-24 VISAA Indoor State Championships. Field events start at 10:30 a.m. at St. Christopher's.
