It will be hard for Walter Dix of Florida State to come up win an encore in the 200m at the upcoming NCAA Championships after his performance in the East Regional in Gainesville, Fla. on Saturday (26).

The 21-year-old set a collegiate record 19.69 to move into sixth on the all-time performer list. The mark aided, by a 0.9 meter-per-second breeze, smashed the collegiate record of 19.75 set by Joe DeLoach of Houston in 1988.

“I didn't expect to run that fast and I didn't think I was going as fast as I was, but when no one came up to me I knew I would go at least under 20." His shock performance knocked a massive 0.44 seconds from his previous personal best set two weeks ago at the Atlantic Coast Conference Championships.

Rounding out a busy day, Dix also set a school record of 10.05 in the 100m to equal the fastest collegiate time of the season and ran the second leg of Florida State’s 4 x 100 relay with Greg Bolden, Michael Ray Garvin and Charles Clark that set a school record of 38.71 to lower the Seminoles collegiate-leading mark of 38.77.

Natasaha Hastings of South Carolina won the women’s 200/400m double in 22.62 and 50.23. The 2004 World Junior 400m champion also anchored the Gamecocks 4 x 400m Relay to a 3:30.25 win. Hasting’s teammate Shalonda Solomon, the 2006 NCAA 200m champion, withdrew from the prelims of the 200m because of a strained left quadricep.

Saturday’s competition at the University of Florida was one of four regional qualifying meets for the NCAA Championships at Sacramento State on 6-9 June. The top five finishers in individual events and top three relay teams automatically advance.

Click here for East Regional Results

Mideast: Holliday 10.07, Auburn DQ in Women’s 4 x 100m Relay

The major surprise was the disqualification for a zone violation by the Auburn women’s 4 x 100m Relay squad. Louisiana State was the winner in 44.60.

Auburn’s rising star Kerron Stewart of Jamaica rebounded to win the women’s 200m in 22.41 and Gloria Asumnu of Tulane won the 100m in 11.27. Trindon Holliday of LSU continued his impressive month with a 10.07 victory in the men’s 100m, running into a headwind, to improve a notch on his previous career best of 10.08.

In the field events, Brittany Riley of Southern Illinois, the 2007 NCAA indoor Weight Throw champion, won the hammer with a 72.33 throw. Donald Thomas, the world High Jump co-leader and defending NCAA Indoor Champion at 2.34m, won with a 2.30m clearance.

Michigan senior Anna Willard, who ran on the Wolverines collegiate record setting 4 x 800m and 4 x 1500m Relays in the Penn Relays, won the Steeplechase in 9:44.88.

Click Here for Mideast Regionals results

Midwest: Hooker Clears 1.93m in Women’s High Jump

In the Midwest Regional at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, IA, Destinee Hooker of Texas cleared 1.93m in the women’s High Jump to equal her lifetime-best and 2007 US and NCAA-leading mark.

Ebonie Floyd of Houston produced a strong sprint double, taking the 100m in 11.15 and the 200m in 22.32, the latter the second fastest in the world thus far for the No. 2 time in the world this year and both career bests for the the 23-year-old. In the 100m, Floyd turned back Simone Facey of Texas A&M (11.19), Chaunte Bayne of Texas (11.28), and Virgil Hodge of TCU (11.29). In the 200m, Floyd and Facey (22.58) each ran under the previous regional record of 22.68 set by Hodge, who placed third in 22.76.

In the men’s 1500m, Texas junior Leonel Manzano ran 3:40.21 for the No. 2 collegiate mark of the year and Minnesota sophomore Heather Dorniden won the women’s 800m in 2:02.03.

Baylor continued its excellence in the 4 x 400m Relay with Reggie Witherspoon, LeJerald Betters, Kevin Mutai and Quentin Summers combining for a 3:01.66 to lower their collegiate leading mark of 3:02.00 set on the same track at the Drake Relays.

Click Here for Midwest Regional results

West: Watkins and Skipper set Pacific-10 Conference records in Long Jump and Pole Vault

Rhonda Watkins of UCLA and Tommy Skipper of Oregon set Pacific-10 Conference records in the West Regional at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field.

Watkins won the women’s Long Jump at 6.82m to break the conference record of 6.77m set by Gail Devers in 1988. The 2006 World Junior Champion for Trindad also moved into second on the all-time UCLA list training only Jackie Joyner-Kersee.

Skipper cleared 5.80m in the Pole Vault for the top collegiate mark of the year to highlight the field events. Niklas Arrhenius of Brigham Young University won the discus Throw at 62.87m in a competition pitting the top five throwers in the nation.

In other women’s events, Carol Rodriguez of USC, who will represent Portugal in the 100m and 200m in the World Championships in Osaka, won both sprints with wind-aided 11.20 and 22.87 performances. USC teammate Jessica Onyepunuka, the 2003 World Youth 100m Champion, finished second in both sprints at 11.32 and 23.27.

Rodriguez and Onyepunuka also teamed on the Trojans’ victorious 4 x 100m relay that timed 44.06.

Alysia Johnson of Cal, the 2007 NCAA Indoor 800m champion, defeated defending Outdoor champion and World junior medallist Rebekah Noble of Oregon, 2:02.12 to 2:04.95, in a matchup between the top collegians in the nation.

Nicole Leach of UCLA won the 400 hurdles in a season-best 55.49 and anchored the Bruins 4 x 400 to a 3:32.55 win. Ashlee Lodree of Washington won the 100m Hurdles in 13.06.  Pac-10 champion Candice Davis finished third in 13.34 after hitting the last hurdle while leading.

Kai Kelley of USC won the 110m Hurdles in 13.63 and Brandon Johnson of UCLA won his third regional title in the 400m Hurdles in 49.98. Aaron Aguayo of Arizona State, the first four-time Pac-10 Steeplechase winner, won in 8:33.67.

Click Here for West regional results

Kirby Lee for the IAAF