They said it couldn't be done. Then they said it would only happen over their dead bodies. Then they participated, apparently through the wonders of post-mortem regeneration, and now they are grumbling.

The NCAA's track & field leaders are to be congratulated for triumphing over the nay-saying coaches who have stymied regional qualifying for years. Now athletes can qualify to Nationals by winning, instead of flying all over the country looking for fast races. The move to Regionals also creates four fantastic meets for fans to watch, and the creation of great track events in this country is something that we need more of, now that our post-collegiate stars spend more time than ever overseas.

Of course, there were glitches. Detractors would have you believe that they were so bad, the "experiment" must be deemed a failure. Yet that's not so. While serious, every glitch is fixable.

In one instance, a Big 10 coach misunderstood the honest effort rule, and cost some of his athletes a shot at nationals. Others openly undermined the rule, by having athletes purposely false start to get disqualified in events they did not want to compete in.

Some fields were huge, others too small. Some top athletes didn't make the cut, and their fans wish they had. Others, like South Carolina's Kenneth Ferguson, were hampered by injuries and missed the cut.

Some complain that too many people advanced to Nationals, robbing these meets of the drama that comes with desperation. Generally, five athletes qualified in each event, with additional at-large performers being chosen from a list of top performers for the year.

All the grumbling aside, I say the meets make sense. And it is time for curmudgeon coaches to quit whining and come up with positive suggestions to fix the problems within the context of the regional set-up. We have waited too long for us not to make this work.

At Stanford, the West Regional saw Lisa Aquilera of Arizona State clock 9:46.30 in the steeplechase, the second-fastest collegiate time ever. UCLA's Cari Soong won the hammer with a 216-3. Teammate Sheena Johnson won the 400 hurdles in 55.88. Becky Holliday of Oregon broke the collegiate vault record with her 14-8.

In Lincoln, the Midwest Regional produced a 44.93 in the 400 by Minnesota's Mitch Potter; Darrold Williamson of Baylor followed in 44.95. Baylor's Lakodran Ivory won the women's dashes in 11.46 and 23.05. Raasin McIntosh of Texas won both hurdles, clocking 12.97 and 55.73. Sanya Richards broke the Texas school record in the 400 with her 50.63, and now leads the national list. Minnesota won the men's title, Nebraska the women's.

In Fairfax, Tiffany Ross of South Carolina won the East Regional hurdles in 13.12 and 55.89. Teammate Aleen Bailey took the 100 in 11.17, but Penn State's Connie Moore edged her in the 200, 22.63 to 22.64. Miami frosh Charlotte Greggs won the 400 in 51.65. North Carolina's Shalene Flanagan beat Kate O'Neal of Yale in a nice 5000, 15:45.94 to 15:51.30. Penn's Sam Burley (1:46.96) beat favored Otukile Lekote (1:47.05) in the 800. Florida won both team titles.

In Columbus, at the Mideast Regional, Dan Lincoln of Arkansas won the steeple in 8:37.56. Mardy Scales of Middle Tennessee won the 100 in 10.02 (wind-aided). Missouri's Christian Cantwell won the shot in 67-11.75. Latrell Frederick of Northwest Louisiana took the javelin in 261-3. Notre Dame's Molly Huddle ran a 16:12.81 in the 5000.

Around the track
Kenenisa Bekele beat his idol, Haile Gebrselassie, at Hengelo. Bekele outkicked the master, 26:53.70 to 26:54.58. A third Ethiopian, Sileshi Sihine, reportedly a teenager, also broke 27-minutes, clocking 26:58.76.

Kenya wasn't totally shut out by the Ethiopian stampede. Wilfred Bungei impressed in the 800 at 1:43.05, while Paul Koech won the steeple in 8:06.68. James Kwalia took the mile in 3:50.39, breaking the world junior record as he is only 18.

At the Home Depot Invitational, Maurice Greene showed he could still sprint, clocking an impressive 9.94 to top the 10.05 of J.J. Johnson.

Jason Lunn won a nice 1500 over David Krummenacker, 3:37.59 to 3:37.53. Kevin Toth threw the shot 71-2.

Kelli White clocked a windy 10.79, and Regina Jacobs ran 4:03.43 to beat the 4:04.36 of Suzy Favor Hamilton. Miesha McKelvy won the hurdles in 12.58.

Finally, Carolina Kluft of Sweden put together her best heptathlon ever, scoring 6602 to win at Gotzis. Roman Sebrle put together 8807 points to win the decathlon, topping the personal record of American Tom Pappas (8585).

Jeff Hollobaugh, former managing editor of Track and Field News, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. He can be reached by e-mail at michtrack@aol.com.