Girls' Shuttle Hurdle Relay Team Become All-Americans

Kelly Burke traveled to Nationals as the established star, with a Meet of Champions title and All-American status already on her resume.

Meanwhile, a pair of sophomores, Rebecca Shiminov and Megan Schetelich, and freshman Bryanna Grant, were hoping to follow in the footsteps of their senior leader, figuratively and literally.

The foursome went to North Carolina last week ranked seventh in the nation in the Shuttle Hurdle Relay. A sixth place finish or higher would secure the group All-American status. And then the drama began. 

The group arrived at the track at 7:45 for a 9 a.m. race, and the Cranford girls were in the first of two heats. In a race that saw several PR's, it was Shiminov who hit the first split in 17 seconds, with Megan Schetelich recording a 16.8 second split. Grant zipped the third in 16.2 before Burke nailed the final split in 14.8.

"Initially, we left the track believing we finished 7th and just missed the top six that would have made the girls All-American," said Cranford track coach Peter Kane. "I then heard from one of the sports writers that we took sixth and he congratulated the girls. I didn't believe him, so I looked it up online.  One of the teams was disqualified for pushing a hurdle, and that is illegal. That put us in sixth. When the girls found out, they were screaming and shouting and Bryanna was even dancing in the department store that her and her mother were in after the meet.  Bryanna is not one to even talk very often but she was screaming and dancing in the aisles. That's what it's all about."

They knew the hard work and dedication would eventually pay off, but little did they know how soon.

"These girls trained and trained and trained, they knew that they were good enough and they went after it," added Kane. "It was a very emotional hour after the race when they went from tears of devastation to screams of elation. It was one of the feelings for Coach (Erika) Kelton and I to see them so pumped up.

That was just the beginning of the day for Burke, who still had her main event later that day.

"Kelly came back to jump later that evening and her teammates came to watch as well," said Kane. "Although she did not jump as well as she would have liked to, she placed 13th and capped off an amazing season and high school career, one that I consider myself lucky to been a part of and one that I will never forget.

The teammates made the nine hour trip to North Carolina A & T to perform, followed by a loyal group of parents and fans. Kane appreciates their dedication, which is second to none.

"It's tremendous. I love traveling with these kids and their families. We have the best parents that support the kids and the team. They are involved and excited, they traveled 9 hours to watch a 65 second race and they loved every second of it.  We do not take them for granted and we couldn't be luckier as a coaching staff and team."

And with all that has already been achieved, Kane and his staff can look ahead to next year with great anticipation.

"Three of these girls are returning next year, with another All American from the winter, Natalie Englese," said Kane. Natalie and Kelly have been the stars on the team and now we have more girls that know they are stars as well. We have a very good foundation to build on with these very talented young leaders and they have catapulted our team to a whole new level. This means that instead of only having one girl that has competed and achieved at the National level we are now returning four, four more than any other team in the county has, and we are not satisfied yet. We want to win team titles and dominate the competition on the local and state level. Winning is contagious and we have a lot of girls that are spreading the bug."