Rich Lombard, Collegian

The Massachusetts indoor track and field teams travel to Kingston, R.I., over the weekend for the indoor Atlantic 10 Championships on Saturday.

The Rams’ home track is not in the best condition, but both UMass squads have seen it before. UMass’s full squad was in Kingston for the Rhode Island Invitational Feb. 2, and the Minutewomen were there for the New Year Classic on Jan. 11.

A team like Temple, which generally competes on tracks that are in excellent condition, could struggle getting used to URI’s track.

“The advantages are strong for both the runners and the field event [athletes],” LaFreniere said. “[Temple] might have a tough time adjusting to URI’s track with tough turns and no banking. It will be an adjustment.”

The men’s team placed fourth in the A-10s last season. Senior Nathan Barksdale and sophomore Ian Hackney will be strong contenders in the 200-meter dash.

Hackney (22.61 seconds) and Barksdale (22.62) have markedly improved their times in the 200-meter from last season, which were over 23 seconds.

If the season is any indicator of how the Minutemen will do this weekend, they should have plenty to look forward to. Freshman Darius Velez will try to improve from last weekend’s 55-meter dash, in which he placed sixth (6.5 seconds).

UMass also had 10 people qualify for the New England Championships and three for the IC4A Championships.

“I thought we did a good job with last week’s meet,” said UMass men’s coach Ken O’Brien. “We had some performances that were above and beyond what we hoped to get.”

One of the qualifiers for both championships, sophomore Tyler Cotto, is coming off a personal record in the 55-meter hurdles (7.7 seconds). This weekend will be his first career indoor championship.

Junior Jesse Regnier and sophomore Nicolai Naranjo will race in both the 3,000- and 5,000-meter runs.

Junior Josh Boone raced in the one-mile run last week, as well as the 1,000-meter run. But O’Brien pulled him from the 1,000-meter to put him in the relay.

Sophomore Brian Miller will lead UMass in the high jump and long jump competitions. Last week he placed sixth in the high jump with a height of six feet, six inches.

O’Brien said the top teams to watch out for will be UNC-Charlotte and URI, but the middle spots are up for grabs.

“It’s a true championship meet,” O’Brien said. “These teams are battling for the 4- to 8-spot. There is no [reason] to believe any of those teams are a favorite.”

The Minutewomen will turn to senior Christina DeRosa’s consistency to rebound from last season’s 10th place finish. DeRosa placed ninth with a time of 9:49.36 in the 3,000-meter run at the BU Valentine Invitational. DeRosa’s time gives her the third-fastest time at UMass.

DeRosa will race in the 3,000- and 5,000-meter runs. LaFreniere expects DeRosa to have a tough weekend, but believes she will have one of the top performances this weekend.

Freshman Gina Perno set a personal record in the 1,000-meter run, taking second place at the Valentine Invitational with 2 minutes, 56.88 seconds. She will compete in the 1,000-meter again this weekend. She will also compete in the 4×8 relay with an all freshmen team of Liz Fisk, Aaron Meghan, and Lauren Stocker.

“They’re freshmen that are running very well, except they’re not going to be top-8 in conference,” LeFreniere said.

Redshirt senior Danielle Bolt has already had an impressive season. She placed first in the 55-meter dash with a time of 7.16 seconds at the Reebok Indoor Games Jan. 25, and hopes to improve on that this weekend.

Bolt’s performance was the third fastest in school history and qualified her for the New England and ECAC Championships.

Redshirt senior Kristen Bakanowski will participate in her first indoor championship since 2006. Previously, she won the pole vault event at the A-10 Championships in 2005 and 2006.

Bakanowski also won the pole vault at the URI Invitational with a height of 12 feet, 1.5 inches, setting a new UMass record.

Despite a number of talented athletes, LaFreniere acknowledged that a lack of depth on the roster will make it difficult to come out on top.

“We’re going go [to Rhode Island] and do the best job we can,” LaFreniere said. “But we just don’t have as many individuals in the events that are in scoring position.”

Adam Miller can be reached at [email protected].