First, it was the swine flu. Now, the TAKS test.

The test has a bigger effect on most high school students than the H1N1 virus appeared to have, but the flu scare delayed and nearly canceled regional track meets last year.

No cancellations this year, but all regional track meets are now set for Monday and Tuesday, May 3-4, so there will be no conflict with TAKS next week.

Regional qualifier track meets are actually being held as the same time as usual. It's just that track's postseason has been so unusual lately. The Monday-Tuesday schedule, in effect for every classification and at every site in the state, might have been the best way to schedule the meets.

After all, golf and tennis play their regionals on those days. But those sports are not nearly as fan-friendly as track, with stands in place to watch all of the running events. The numbers of fans will vary by classification and location, but Saturday running finals often attract good crowds at regional meets. It's hard to envision that they will draw as well on a Tuesday.

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Strong again: How did last year's Brazos Valley state competitors do at their district meets? They stayed on track.

Sophomore Callie Padgett led a Centerville medal sweep at the District 21-2A meet in the 800 meters, running 2 minutes, 26.56 seconds in Groveton. She was second in the 400, running 1:00.69. The 800-meter time virtually matched her 2009 regional time of 2:26.43. Padgett was seventh at state last season.

Although pushed in both races by Willis' Jeff Nichols, Brenham's Will Antkowiak won the 1,600 in 4:23.51 and the 3,200 in 9:25.38. As a sophomore, Antkowiak was the state bronze medalist in both races. The Cubs' Derek Edwards, second in the triple jump at state last year, finished second at district this year. His jump was 44 feet, 8 1/2 inches.

Lexington had three state athletes back for the 25-2A meet, and all stayed on pace for a return trip. State champion Clint Hutson won the 110 hurdles in 14.47, faster than his winning time in Austin last June. He added a 22-5 1/2 leap in the long jump to win. Julien Clark, who placed sixth at state, cleared 6-6 in the high jump at district this year. Courtney Jackson won the girls' discus with a throw of 120-6. Jackson placed fourth at state.

Bremond's Johnathon White ran 2:02.76 to win 27-A's 800 meters and also won the 400 in 51.16. He improved to 2:01.83 at the area meet and ran 51.07 in the 400, second to Burton's Xavier Bethany (50.66). White is the defending state champion in the 800 and placed seventh in the 400 at the state meet.

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Qualifiers meet coming up: Brenham again holds its annual regional qualifiers meet this week. A&M Consolidated's boys and girls will take part in the meet. It begins Friday at 2:30 p.m. at Cub Stadium.

District 12-5A's Harker Heights is also hosting a qualifiers meet.

With Mildred and McGregor not hosting meets this year, some of the smaller schools have been left scrambling or traveling long distances to face schools closer to their size.

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Record-breaking run: Hearne freshman Re'Jana Ellison broke a 30-year-old school record in the 200 with her time of 24.92 at the District 20-2A track meet in Marlin. The previous record was 25.43, set by Frances Hammond in 1980, according the Hearne Democrat.

Ellison's time of 12.1 in the 100 also broke a school record, although she finished second in both events. Chastidy Hammond, Frances Hammond's daughter, had held that mark after running 12.29 in 1998, the Democrat reported.

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No need for prelims: Consol's boys and girls will have seven athletes competing at the Class 5A Region II track meet, but none of them will have to work their way through running preliminaries to get to the finals.

Sally Hays and Karis Jochen each qualified in the 3,200 and 1,600, but all 24 competitors run in the same race for each of those. No qualifying is required. The other qualifiers are in field events, and while they use preliminary and finals marks, they are all part of the same competition. There's no waiting to see if your time is good enough to advance to the next day.

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Busy schedule: Baylor's Hart-Patterson Track, which will again host the 5A Region II meet on Monday and Tuesday, May 3-4, will have Friday and Saturday track with the TAPPS state meet there later in the week.