The Massachusetts men’s and women’s indoor track squads encountered some turbulence this week at the Atlantic 10 Championships.

Going into Saturday’s meet at the University of Rhode Island, coach Ken O’Brien said his men would have to be “letter perfect” if they were to hang with the likes of A-10 powerhouses URI, LaSalle and St. Joseph’s.

“Letter perfect we weren’t,” O’Brien said. “It wasn’t a disaster, but I left the meet saying we should have done better. I was happy with the way the kids competed, but I think we left a little on the track.”

The Minutemen totaled 66 points on the day, good enough for fifth out of seven teams, on a day that saw six New England Indoor Championships-qualifying performances for the Maroon and White.

Senior Kwesi Frimpong-Boateng retained his title as the A-10 Champion in the 55 – meter dash, clocking in at 6.34 seconds. Winning both the preliminary and final rounds, Frimpong-Boateng maintains his season-long streak of first-place finishes in the 55, now standing at five. The run also qualified him for New Englands as well as the IC4A Championships.

“Kwesi likes the Rhode Island track; he runs well down there,” O’Brien said. “He runs well any place, but he’s had his best time down there, and he came a hundredth of a second off [Saturday]. You can’t even hear a hundredth of a second. It was a nice day for him.”

Freshman Steve Gamble was the biggest surprise on the day, taking third in the shot put with a toss of 43-11 3/4 and fifth in the weight throw with 33-8 1/2. All in all, Gamble and Frimpong-Boateng tied for a team-high 10 points each, nearly one-third of the team’s total.

“We need to build up our strength in the throwing area, but Steve gives us a nice, young person who can do several events. He needs to get a little stronger and pick up some technique, and he’ll be great, as he’s done already [for us],” O’Brien said.

The mile relay foursome of Dave Falvey, James Godinho, John O’Neil and Joseph McCormack punched their ticket to the New Englands with a second-place performance of 3:20.31. Godinho and O’Neil will also be heading to the Championships in the 500, finishing fourth and fifth in the event, respectively.

The two-mile relay set of John Jacobsen, Dave McMenamy, Matt Clark, and Jon Korhonen will also be heading to Boston, as they qualified for New Englands with a third place finish of 7:56.62. Korhonen also qualified for the meet in the mile, taking fourth with a season-best 4:18.29.

Senior Glenn Opie was back on top of things in the high jump, placing fourth with a leap of 6-3 1/4. Fellow jumper Henry Smith was also a high finisher, keeping consistent with a fifth-place performance in the triple jump of 45-1 1/2.

The Rhode Island Rams repeated as A-10 Champions Saturday with 199 points. The LaSalle Explorers came close behind in second with 173.

The UMass women scored 41 points overall, placing eighth out of nine teams in the A-10 Championship meet last weekend. The highlight of the meet by far for the Minutewomen was A-10 Champion Elisabeth Budd, who ran what Coach Julie LaFreniere referred to as ‘the race of her life.’

Though she was caught behind a tight pack for most of the race, on the first straightaway of the last lap, Budd pulled forward. The pack was running wide, so she pushed up through the inside. In the back 50 meters, Budd made her move, accelerating forward, daring anyone to stay with her. No one could.

LaFreniere was excited by Budd’s performance.

“She wasn’t ranked first in the event, that was a pretty nice upset for UMass,” LaFreniere said. “It just goes to show, no one pushes [Elisabeth] Budd around.”

LaFreniere cited the distance medley relay as the next highlight of the event. Alexis Anzelone was the lead, running the 1200 – meter leg, taking a significant amount of time off of her personal best in the event with a 3:45. Budd was back in action for the 400 – meter leg, but showed no sign of fatigue in an excellent time of 59 seconds. Kristen Ford took the baton next for the 800 – meter leg, running her second impressive 2:19 for the day, and Kate Markopoulos anchored the relay with a 5:11 mile, her best of the season so far. She took the lead, but in the end fell to anchor Jenna Darcy from La Salle, a notoriously strong miler.

“Markopoulos went out fast, taking the lead and coming through the first half mile in 2:27, which is pretty fast,” LaFreniere said. “Unfortunately, [Darcy] caught up to us, but it was still very exciting.”

Two members of the relay, Ford and Budd, had already run the 800 – meter and the 500 – meter, respectively, but LaFreniere saved Markopoulos and Anzelone for only the relay. The team ran 12:15.81, the second best performance overall from the team, according to LaFreniere, who was generally pleased with the team’s effort.

“We only had a couple people who didn’t reach their potential, probably from nerves, but for the most part I think we stepped up,” LaFreniere said.

She does, however, cite the early season training as a setback. The first two weeks were difficult because the women were unable to train at Smith College as they have done in the past, and the turf they usually practice on was frozen solid. Then the team encountered a week of subzero temperatures that prevented outdoor training.

“Because of those first two weeks, I think the team is essentially two weeks behind in their training,” LaFreniere said. “I believe the attitudes of the athletes have been very good, we’ve done the best that we can do with who we have.”

Both teams will compete in the New England Indoor Championships starting on Saturday in Boston at 10 a.m.