Burke Breaks Meet Record at Group Championships

She is one of the most accomplished athletes to ever come out of Cranford High School. But Kelly Burke, despite all of the accolades, wants more. That drive is what has made her so successful.

This past weekend, the Notre Dame-bound senior set another meet record at the state Group championships, nailing the triple jump at 39-2 1/5.

In the pole vault, Burke made it look easy with a final mark of 12-2, which was more than a foot higher than the runner-up.

That helped the Cranford girls' finish a respectable sixth out of 38 teams participating in the Group 2 championships.

But today there's more to be done, as Burke takes center stage in her two main events. She looks to become the first girl ever to place in the top six in both events, and the school's first girls' champion from CHS at this prestigious meet.

"That's why she's so good," said Cranford track coach Peter Kane. "Nothing is good enough. She never hits that plateau where she's satisfied. She always wants to get better and better and I believe in her mind, that going to college and getting a scholarship was something that she was going to do. It wasn't this big reward for something. It's what she was going to do. And now she has her mind set on going to win a Meet of Champions title. She's very driven and very motivated."

The Meet of Champions, held at Frank Jost Field in South Plainfield, will be home to the best track and field athletes in the state, and Burke enters as the favorite in both triple jump and pole vault.

At 12-7, she is the state leader in the pole vault and holds the same distinction with a 39-8 mark in the triple jump, which beats any other foe by a foot.  

Her goals?

"13-0 in pole vault, 40-0 in triple jump and winning both at Meet of Champions would just be awesome," said Burke. "Right now, at triple jump, I think with my 39-8, I have the best jump in the state by a foot, so hopefully if I can keep up and get up to 40, that will guarantee me the win at triple jump. And pole vault, it's a really, really competitive field. You have girls like Catherine Shih (Bernards), Emily Urciuoli (Clifton), and Stephanie Skove (Monmouth). They're all going over 12-feet and Emily won the Meet of Champions last year so you definitely have to go for it and just focus."

Burke understands the significance of this week and also what lies ahead in the future.

"My high school career is coming to a close, but I still have four more years in college to jump farther and higher and I'm really excited about that," she said. "I'm definitely going to be sad, Meet of Champs, Nationals, my last two big meets of my high school career, but I have the entire next four years to look forward to."

"I hate that her high school career is coming to an end," said Kane. "It feels like it's gone so fast. We have the Meet of Champions and then go to Nationals in North Carolina at the end of June."

Burke might also be getting encouragement from her future coach this afternoon, who may make the trip from South Bend to see his future star in action.

"My coach (from Notre Dame) is actually thinking about coming down for Meet of Champions, so I can talk to him about summer training. But I'm definitely going to be pole vaulting all throughout the summer."

First though, she would love to call herself the best at Meet of Champions. She would like nothing more than to repeat the feeling she had when recalling her greatest accomplishment so far.

"It would still have to be second at Nike Indoor Nationals," said Burke. "Just to be on that podium was a very exciting experience. I got to be an All-American. I had the farthest indoor jump of my career and set the bar higher for the season. It was just a great way to end my winter and start off my spring."

Action will begin at 3:30 p.m. today. And there's no doubt Cranford fans will be cheering on one of their hometown favorites in her quest for track and field glory.