The regional qualifying meets will be May 30 and 31 at the following institutions: East -- George Mason University; Mideast -- Ohio State University; Midwest -- University of Nebraska, Lincoln; and West -- Stanford University. The 2003 championships will be June 11-14 in Sacramento, California, hosted by California State University, Sacramento, and the Sacramento Sports Commission.

The regional qualifying format is a change from the method of student-athletes advancing directly to the national championships by meeting standards established for each event.

Fields for the regional meets will be composed of conference champions in each event and those who meet the new regional qualifying standards (see page 8 of the September 16 issue of The NCAA News). The top five finishers in each individual event and the top three teams in each relay event, who then declare their intention to compete in the event in the national championships, will advance automatically.

Once the automatic qualifiers from the four regional meets are determined, the Division I track and field subcommittee will complete the national fields of 544 men and 544 women by selecting at-large competitors from descending-order lists. Those lists will include all regular-season competition and the regional meets.

The men's and women's 10,000-meter runs, the decathlon and the heptathlon will not be part of the regional qualifying format. Competitors in those events will continue to qualify directly to the national championships. The qualifying standards for the 10,000 and the combined events are also on page 8 of the September 16 issue.

The 2004 regional qualifying meets will be May 28-29 at the following sites: East -- University of Florida; Mideast -- Louisiana State University; and Midwest -- Texas A&M University, College Station. The West region host has yet to be determined.