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Video: Former Westwood Track Star Accepts Proposal At Springsteen Show

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The woman who accepted her boyfriend's marriage proposal onstage at Bruce Springsteen's record-setting MetLife Stadium concert Thursday night once starred for the Westwood Regional High School track team.

The happy couple.

Photo Credit: pointblank482000

Michael McCloskey proposes to Jill Bert.

Photo Credit: Compumom226
McCloskey, Bert and the Boss.

McCloskey, Bert and the Boss.

Photo Credit: Michael McCloskey (FACEBOOK)

A YouTube video (second above) captured the moment that Michael McCloskey of Manhattan proposed to Jillian Rabadan in the pit in front of the stage during "Jersey Girl," the closer to a show that missed hitting four hours by a single second.

The houselights were up when Springsteen stopped the Tom Waits song in its tracks after spotting the couple (first video).

"What the hell is going on down there?" he asked.

Rabadan, a 34-year-old Washington Township native, showed him the ring.

"Don't do it down there, do it it up here," the 66-year-old rocker responded.

As security hoisted them over the barrier, the Boss told the crowd: "Love is in the room tonight."

Then he handed McCloskey his wireless microphone."Go ahead," he said.

"This is my girlfriend, Jill," McCloskey told the crowd. "We've been together eight years, we've been to a ton of shows together and this is by far the highlight of them all.

"Jill, you're my best friend, I love you more than more than anyone else in the world. I love you more than music itself. Hell, I love you more than Bruce."

Then he turned to Springsteen and said: "Sorry, Bruce."

"I'm so happy you said yes and I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you," McCloskey told his bride-to-be.

A beaming Springsteen resumed the song, urging McCloskey to dance with his new fiance. He did -- and snapped a few selfies.

Fireworks then erupted from behind the stage.

Asked how he managed to pull it off, McCloskey wrote "luck of the Irish" on his Facebook page.

"Maybe Bruce will sing at your wedding," Jaclyn Kraynak Juryn wrote to Bert. "Enjoy all the celebrating."

"I'm feeling very lucky and loved," Rabadan -- aka "Jill Bert," Class of 2000 -- told her former coach, George Glover. "And lol no crying in track."

Springsteen's "The River" tour this year has featured similar proposals in Baltimore in April and in Sunrise, Florida, in February.

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