Englese Returns to Track With Burke Brigade To Defend Sectional Crown

As the high school season heads into the home stretch, the boys' and girls' track and field teams are gearing up for what they hope will be a big weekend in South Plainfield.

"We can get a lot of boys in the next round," said coach Peter Kane. "You place top six in the sections, and you move on to the state group championship meet. And the girls have a shot at placing very high."

Three teams will be battling for the title besides the Cougars, with Hanover Park and Bernards entering the sectionals with a strong contingent as well.

Things are looking good for Cranford, thanks to another solid showing last week at the county individual meet, where star runner Natalie Englese made her long-awaited return to competition after being sidelined for over a month with a calf injury. Her 57.3 is the fastest time in the state section.

Meanwhile, the Burke brigade was back in record-breaking territory.

"We had two meet records go down with Kelly Burke in the pole vault at 12-feet and triple jump at 39-8, that also breaks her county record," Kane said. "We had some strong performances by the boys on the other side. Errol Petgrave was very close to his personal record."

Kane has watched two of his newcomers find success, with freshmen Bryanna Grant and Reggie Green improving with every spring meet.

"Bryanna and Reggie are two of the top freshmen in the county," said Kane. "Bryanna has been on our shuttle hurdle relay team which is going back Nationals outdoors. She's been pole vaulting, triple jumping , high jumping. She has the best jump with Kelly in the section in the high jump. She's all-around, a jumper, sprinter, a young talent who is going to mature into something great for Cranford. Reggie is the same capacity. He's been high jumping, long jumping, and triple jumping. He's going to find a really nice home in the triple jump, especially being the best freshman in Union County."

"I'm going to try and get a PR for triple jump and pole vault," said Grant. "In pole vault, I'm trying to go to 9-6. In triple jump, hopefully 35-0. Hopefully, I'll get 5-2 in high jump, I've been working on that for a while. It's been great. It's been really fun with the girls."

She's been fortunate to have a mentor like Burke at practice every day.

"I learned a lot from Kelly since she was a gymnast before," Grant said. "Hopefully I'll be like her senior year too. I'm trying to break her record when she was a freshman for triple jump and pole vault."

"On Saturday I'll be doing the triple jump and now I'm ranked seventh, so I'm trying to move up so I can go to states," said Green. "My year has been going good. I started lower in triple jump and now I'm getting higher and higher. And for my other events, I've improved a lot. I've gotten faster and stronger."

Kane and coach John Schiano share the same goal for the weekend.

"Our theme this weekend is to PR," said Kane. "I want every single person to hit a personal record. If we can do that, we can go home successful. I think that carries over into team title for the girls. I'm expecting to be on the edge of my seat as I watch our girls perform event after event."

Last year Cranford came from behind to grab the girls' sectional crown on the final day in thrilling fashion.

 "I have to take into account when we ended last year's first day with 10 total points," said Kane. "We came back and scored 55 points the last day to win, so I'm just going to be on edge for two days and hope for the best, knowing that we have the power to win this thing."