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Last year Marian Catholic's Mitchell Erickson competed in just five meets. He still ended up qualifying for the state finals in the pole vault, finishing 19th.

This year? Well, what a difference a year makes.

Erickson, a junior, made significant strides to say the least. At the IHSA Class AA Boys State Track and Field Meet on Saturday, he won the state pole vault title with an effort of 16 feet, 9 inches.

The championship came on the heels of Marian Catholic's Melissa Gergel winning the same event at last weekend's Class AA girls state meet.

Erickson edged out runner-up Joe Noonan of Lincoln-Way East (16-6) in the finals at O'Brien Stadium on the campus of Eastern Illinois University.

The 16-foot-plus performances marked the first time in the history of the Class AA meet that two pole vaulters cleared that height in the finals.

"It feels real good, I'm not going to lie to you," an ecstatic Erickson said. "To have Melissa and me both win this was pretty cool and it's a really nice accomplishment. The competition was just great today. I couldn't believe the quality of talent that we had down here this year."

Erickson attributed his dramatic improvement this season to participating in a far greater amount of meets than he had in years past.

"I played basketball in the winter time every year until now," Erickson said. "This year I decided to drop basketball for indoor track and I actually ended up competing in about 20 meets this year. So, obviously, the extra meets definitely made an impact, especially since my highest vault up until this year was 14 feet."

For Noonan, a senior, finishing behind Erickson was no reason to hang his head.

"I've competed against Mitchell all the time and I've always lost to him," Noonan said. "But going up against him is great competition and it definitely brings the best out in me.

"I really wanted this (the win) today and I felt I did pretty well, but unfortunately it just wasn't enough to get it done."

The highest finish by a Southland team was turned in by Thornwood. The Thunderbirds placed eighth overall, totaling 19 points.

Thornwood finished fourth in the 400-meter relay, with Daniel Fleming, Djari Nelson, Phillip Jones and Josh Gist posting a time of 42.14 seconds.

Gist finished third in the 110 hurdles (14.20), while the 1,600 relay team of Cory McNeal, Kunie Daramola, Fleming and Gist finished sixth (3:21.71). The Thunderbirds' 800 relay team of Gist, Fleming, Jones and Nelson was eighth in 1:26.7.

Cahokia won the Class AA title with 63 points, edging East St. Louis Senior (61).

"Pretty much coming into the meet, we were just trying to make finals," Jones said. "Obviously, I wish we could have done better, but overall I am pleased with how we did. Every one of our guys gave it everything they had and left it all out on the track. You can't complain about that."

Gist improved on his fourth-place effort last year in the 110 hurdles.

"I should have done better today, no question," Gist said. "I got off to a great block start and came out hard, but just got out of rhythm after the first hurdle.

"I guess I can't really complain about doing better than I did last year though."

Also in the 110 hurdles, Thornridge's Adum Gross was fourth (14.3) and Brother Rice's Tony Morrison (14.46) took fifth.

Lincoln-Way East finished 13th (16 points), receiving a solid effort from Adam Gettis, who earned two medals. The senior finished sixth in the discus (168-6) and ninth in the shot put (55 feet).

"This was my first time getting two medals down here, so I figure that's a pretty nice way to go out," said Gettis, who will throw for Iowa next spring. "I felt pretty good today, but there was no doubt that the better guys won in both my events."

The Griffins' Marvin Cosby finished seventh in the 400 (49.30).

"We (the Lincoln-Way East team) came into this weekend wanting to leave with a trophy," said Cosby, who will continue his sprinting career at Iowa State. "We didn't quite get that done, but I'm really proud of how myself and all of our guys competed down here this year. It was a great way to go out."

St. Rita's Earnest Green also turned in a solid performance, placing third in the triple jump (46-9) and fourth in the long jump (22-6).

Oak Forest's Jacob Solus was fourth in the triple jump (46-3).

Hillcrest's Andre Townsend finished third in the 300 intermediate hurdles (37.96) and eighth in the 110 hurdles (14.94).

T.F. North's Willie Knox was fifth in the 300 hurdles (38.72).

Sandburg's foursome of Tom Sideras, Zach Dahleen, Mike Marbach and Kevin Adamowski were fifth in the 3,200 relay (7:50.2).

Thornton's Corey Sykes, Brian White, Michael Beard and Daniel Eaves were fifth in the 400 relay (42.29) and fifth in the 800 relay (1:28.15).

Lockport's Kyle Engnell was sixth in the 800 (1:56.6).