Kelly Burke makes history at Meet of Champions

For someone as competitive as Kelly Burke, nothing less than winning at the Meet of Champions would do.

And the Cranford senior not only won the pole vault competition with a meet-tying mark of 12 feet 6 inches, the Notre Dame-bound senior finished third in the triple jump, making her the first girl in the history of the Meet of Champions to finish in the top six in both events.

"It feels really good, it's definitely something that I've looked for the entire time that I've done track, so achieving that is a good feeling," said Burke.

The Meet of Champions, held at Frank Jost Field in South Plainfield, was a fitting way for Burke to close out her high school career.

Burke's main competitor was already in the Meet of Champions record books. Emily Urcioli of Clifton was aiming for her second consecutive pole vault title after breaking the mark last year.

With clear determination and focus, Burke cleared her first jump at 12-6, while Urcioli cleared the height on her second attempt. By rule, the first attempt is more important when it comes to a tiebreaker, and Burke closed out her high school career with something she's dreamed about for a long time. But it didn't come easy.

"The entire day was a little bit hectic," said Burke. "Instead of opening at 10-6, they ended up opening at 10-0 for the opening height and that probably took an hour and a half until they got to my opening height of 11-0. So I was sitting there, waiting for the bar to go up. I had to run around and do a few sprints periodically. Finally, when they got to my height, the first one I missed, the second one I got over, which put me in second place the entire time up until 12-6. Getting over 12-6 on my first jump was what got me back into first and put me over the top against Emily."

And she won it all despite the fact she was fighting soreness in her foot while facing the best athletes in the state.

Burke entered the day as the state leader in both the pole vault (12-7) and triple jump (38-8), but the nagging injury made its presence felt throughout the competition. Needless to say, that wasn't about to stop her.

"I was feeling really good right after I won pole vault," said Burke. "And then after I hurt my foot in triple jump, it put a little bit of a damper on the day but it was still an incredible feeling. I did feel a lot of pressure. I feel nervous before every meet, though. I think I was extra nervous because I knew what was on the line and how the other jumpers can do in a pressure situation, how they're just as good. So I just had to try and push it out of my head and focus on my jumping."

Burke placed third in triple jump with a 38-1, short of her state mark, but the former gymnast-turned-track-and-field-star knows she'll head to South Bend in the fall with a stellar resume, which includes All-American status thanks to her performance earlier this year at the Nike Invitational.

And for Burke, it was just important to share the success with her teammates.

"Natalie (Englese), she was right next to me sitting there, and as soon as Emily didn't make it over her third attempt for 13-0, she gave me a huge hug. She started tearing up a little bit and I think I did a little bit too because I couldn't believe it just happened."

Cranford coach Peter Kane has been with Burke from the first day he took over the program and he couldn't be more proud of her success.

"Kelly was able to do what's she's been doing all season, come in there, stay calm, stay confident, and she was able to win the Meet of Championship in the pole vault," said Kane. "Kelly has really established a new wave in Cranford track. She came in four years ago as a freshman, I came in four years ago with Coach (John) Schiano. She trusted what I had to say. She trusted where the program was going. She was also athletic enough to do everything. She's changed the face of Cranford track, she's put us on the map. And we're looking forward to a bright future now."

Burke will have another chance to add to her growing list of accomplishments when she travels to Greensboro, North Carolina, next Friday to participate in the Nationals at North Carolina A & T. She's been logging plenty of miles over the years to achieve her goals, but it's been a road well-traveled.  

"I've been working really hard the past four years and I've been going to pole vault practice once a week every week before that, for two and a half hours a day, and it's an hour and a half away," Burke said with a smile. "So I've been putting a lot of effort into it. And I finally got what I was looking for."