Khaliel Burnett has been waiting all season for a huge personal best to put him among the state's all-time greats in the triple jump.
The wait is over for Burnett, who delivered one of the greatest triple jump performances in state history when the NJSIAA Public School Sectional Championships opened on Friday.
Burnett, a senior at Delsea who came into the meet with a personal best of 49-1 3/4, destroyed that and smashed the all-time Sectional record (all sections and groups combined) and nearly broke the state record with a massive US #6 jump of 50-4, No. 3 in state history, to capture his second straight South Jersey, Group 3 title at Delsea High School.
The previous all-time triple jump Sectional record of 49-6 was set in 2015 by Eric Bethea of Piscataway.
With his monumental effort, Burnett, the Meet of Champions winner in the TJ last year, became just the seventh member of NJ's exclusive 50-foot club. Burnett is now just two and three-quarters of an inch away from the state record of 50-6 3/4 set in 2013 by Dominique Irons of Haddon Heights.
NJ ALL-TIME 50 FOOT TRIPE JUMP CLUB
50-6 3/4-Dominique Irons, Haddon Heights, 2013 (Group 1 State Championships)
50-5-Chris Phipps, Lodi, 2008 (Bergen County Meet of Champions)
50-4-Khaliel Burnett, Delsea, 2018 (SJ Group 2 Sectional Championships)
50-3 1/2-Dodley Thermitus, Elizabeth, 2016 (State Group 4 Championships)
50-2 1/2-Eric Bethea, Piscataway, 2015 (State Group 4 Championships)
50-1 1/2-Myles Hartsfield, Sayreville, 2014 (State Group 4 Championships)
50-0 1/4-Devon Bond, Trenton, 2007 (State Group 4 Championships)